'6 I 



IlIBRARY OF CONGRESS J 

# # 

I ^^f,. 13.i..2-..i.:0 S \ 

I ^JU^ ..34-..S 1^ 



I UNITED STATES OF AMBEICl.^ 



ST PAUL THE APOSTLE 



EDINBURGH : 

FEINTED BT BALLANTYNB AND COMPANY, 

PAUL'S WORK. 



ST PAUL THE APOSTLE: 

A BIBLICAL PORTRAIT 

■ AND 

A MIRROR OF THE MANIFOLD GRACE OF GOD. 



W. FrBESSEE, D.D. 



TRANSLATED BY 

FEEDERIC BULTMANN, 






WITH AN INTRODUCTORY NOTICE BY 

E,EV. J. S. HOWSON, D.D. 



NEW YORK: 

ROBERT CARTER k BROTHERS, 

No. 530 BROADWAY. 

1864. 



7r 



^<^ 



p 

o" 



to 






INTRODFCTOET NOTICE. 



During tlie last ten or twenty years a very remarkable 
attention has been given, in many countries, to the study 
of the Life and Personal Character of St Paul. A large 
number of books might be mentioned, published during 
this period, on the whole or on part of this subject, in 
England and Germany, Holland and France. Among 
these books, the small volume here presented to the 
reader deserves to hold a conspicuous place. 

My share in the publication of this translation has been 
limited to making arrangements with the publisher, to 
correctmg the proof-sheets, and giving a more English 
turn to some of the sentences which seemed to require 
it. In discharging the last of these tasks, I have con- 
fined myself within narrow bounds, and most scrupulously 
avoided communicating the least shade of difference of 
meaning to any single expression. Sometimes I have 
fancied that the translator did not exhibit quite exactly 



VI INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 

the author's thought; but in such cases I have not felt 
myself at liberty (and, indeed, with my inadequate know- 
ledge of German, it would have been presumptuous) to 
make any changes in the sense. My difficulty was further 
increased by the fact that I have had simply the pub- 
lished edition of Dr Besser's " Paulus" before me, where- 
as Mr Bultmann (as he says in his preface) executed his 
translation within reach of notes prepared by the author for 
a second edition : and in some cases I see that the variation is 
considerable. These explanations will doubtless be thought 
sufficient, if the whole book is found to wear, as regards 
its phraseology, a German complexion, if some parts are 
rather obscure, and others contain expressions and images 
which seem strange to the English reader. When an author 
writes somewhat quaintly in his own language, it is diffi- 
cult to preserve this characteristic in a translation. 

My own work and responsibility in this instance hav- 
ing been so light, it seems hardly necessary to say more. 
I may just add, however, that in certain details I do not 
agree with the author's views. Thus I think very great 
objections lie against his opinion that the First Epistle to 
Timothy and the Epistle to Titus were written during the 
residence at Ephesus, described in the nineteenth chapter 
of the Acts. All serious difficulties in regard to these 
epistles vanish if we retain the old opinion, that the Apostle 



INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. VU 

was liberated from the Eoman imprisonment recorded at 
the end of that book. And Dr Besser himself, in common 
with a large number of the most recent writers, quite 
accepts that well-supported view.* On the other hand, while 
differing sometimes in circumstantial detail, it is a great 
pleasure to me to express my hearty concurrence in the 
general delineation here given of the Apostle's character. 
Thus (to mention one point, which has not always been 
very distinctly noticed in connexion with the sequence of 
the events of St Paul's life) I see that Dr. Besser has been . 
struck, as I wasf before reading his book, with the pecu- 
liarly elastic and joyous tone of the epistles written during 
that very imprisonment, after a time of much depression, 
suffering, and trial. 

One other subject calls for a single remark. Mr Bult- 
mann has thought it desirable to state that he does not 
quite accord with Dr Besser's somewhat ''High-Church 
views." It does not appear to me necessary to lay peculiar 
stress on this point. It may be of service to some Eng- 

* Some English Churchmen would not be satisfied with Avhat is said 
on Church Order in the last chapter : but the author virtually admits that 
the germ of Episcopacy was planted in the missions of Timothy and Titus ; 
and the argument hence derived is not touched by the fact that the words 
"bishop" and "presbyter" are convertible in Acts xx. 17, 28, and Tit. L 5, 7. 

t I may take the liberty of referring here to p. 208 (second edition) of 
the " Hulsean Lectures for 1862 : Five Lectures on the Character of St 
Paul, by J. S. Howson, D.D." 



Vm INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 

lish readers to see how a German, who holds the doctrine 
of Justification by Faith in the purest and strictest sense, 
yet looks on Baptism as the entrance to great spiritual 
blessings, believes that the Lord's Supper is a means of 
grace of the utmost moment, and sets a high value on the 
external unity of the Church. Our own Ecclesiastical 
and Sacramental controversies have separated us from one 
another; and it may be well that those who have been so 
divided should at last draw more closely together. Worse 
dangers now surround us than any which are connected 
with such disputes. As regards the Supernatural charac- 
ter of Christianity, the Eedemption wrought for us by 
Christ, and the reverence due to the Holy Scriptures, Dr 
Besser will be found unfaltering. His "Paulus" is a 
popular book as opposed to a mere theological treatise; 
but it is evidently based on a careful, minute, and pro- 
longed study of all that is said in the New Testament by 
St Paul, and of St Paul ; and I believe it will be found 
full of useful suggestions to those whose duty it is to 
teach others, as well as eminently adapted to build up 
unlearned believers '' in their most holy faith." 

J. S. H. 
LivBBPOOL, Feb. 2, 1864. 



TO 

THE REV. H. VENN, B.D., 

PREBENDARY OF ST PATTL's, HON. SEC. OF THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 

f Its " Iflrtrait" 

OF THE FIRST GREAT MISSIONARY 

IS, 

IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THE MANY KINDNESSES 

EXPERIENCED DURING A MISSIONARY SERVICE OF TWENTY-THREE YEARS 

UNDER THE CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY, 

RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY 

THE TRANSLATOR. 



rilEFACE. 



" ExEMPLA TEAHUNT," — " Examples draw." To a nation so 
fond as the English of drawing by example, and so success- 
ful in it, that their w^orks of this description are admired 
and copied by other nations, it is hoped that this '' Por- 
trait," drawn by a fond hand, of tlie man to whom, under 
God, we are all indebted for untold blessings, will not be 
unacceptable. 

How this first Apostle of the Gentiles — Saint Paul, 
chosen for the work from his mother's womb — was called 
and prepared for it by Divine grace, — how he laboured and 
suffered, and was blessed in it through Divine grace, — in 
short, how he lived and died a monument of God's grace 
in Christ Jesus, and how in the rich legacy of his word and 
work he has bequeathed to the Church of all ages a fund 
of inexhaustible blessings, — these are the main features of 
this biographical sketch, drawn in vivid colours by the 
author's masterly hand. 

Among his " Biblical Portraits" that of Saint Paul is by 
far the richest ; nor would he proceed to draw it, until — 
in his deservedly popular " Bibelstunden,"* f' Bible Les- 

* Animated by the author's encouragement to it, and having every 
reason to hope that they will be as acceptable to the English, as they are 



XU PREFACE. 

sons," all of which, before publication, he personally de- 
livered to his flock,) — he had gone through the Acts and 
Eomans, in both which, to use (with him) an expression of 
Gregory of ISTazianzum, he found "what Paul saith of Paul." 
''And now I am bold to say," he adds, " that I come with 
full hands ; for they have been filled by the word of the 
Spirit, who has drawn after life the picture of the wonder- 
ful man, whom to draw after Him has been my delight." 

It has appeared proper to the author, and rightly so, 
first, to complete the historical picture of his hero, (Chapters 
i.-vi.,) in order, in the last four Chapters, (vii.-x.,) to con- 
centrate again all the sparks of light thus gathered, in '■' the 
Man of Faith," and ''of Hope," and" of Love;" and then, 
finally, to sum up all in " the Man of the Church." If 
any should think that the author's partiality for this man 
of God has carried his praise and admiration of him beyond 
proper bounds, let him remember Christ's word : " I am 
glorified in them." It was in this light only — under the 
constant deep sense of glorifying the Eedeemer in the 
redeemed — that the author could venture, and has ven- 
tured, to dip his pen so deeply into praise, and to draw in 
such glowing colours the picture of the man who has said 
of himself, " By the grace of God I am what I am." 

One remark, however, I dare not shrink from making 
here. The author being one of those strict Lutherans who, 
for conscience' sake, separated from the National Church of 
Prussia,* the reader will here and there meet with — no 

fondly cherished by the German Bible-reader, I shall (D.V.) prepare an 
edition of them for the English public. 

* By a Eoyal Act of Uniformity, passed in 1830, the two Protestant 
sections of the National Church — Lutheran and Reformed — were fused 



PREFACE. Xlll 

Tractarian, but — somewhat " High-Churcli views," though 
" no higher," he declares, '' than the Church herself, the 
Bride of the Lamb." And as an " Evangelical" Churchman 
myself, identified — through many years' service under it — 
with the principles of the Church Missionary Society, I 
feel no hesitation in assuring the " Evangelical" reader, that 
he will not peruse these pages (nor any of Dr Besser's 
works) without conceiving the highest regard for the 
author, and, I may confidently add, without blessing him 
for the many precious pearls and rich thoughts of whole- 
some doctrine they contain. Indeed, I am acquainted 
with no writer of my country better calculated to redeem 
the honour of our German theology, and take away much 
of the prejudice so generally felt against it by the 
'' evangelical party" in England. For in no page of Dr 
Besser's pen will they ever find the least unsoundness in 
doctrine, much less any taint of " rationalism ;" which, on 
the contrary, at every fitting occasion, is crushingly handled 

into one, thenceforth called "The United (Unirte) Church of Prussia," 
Upon the introduction of a modified Liturgy {Agende) to suit both par- 
ties, the author refused to acknowledge " its right," and declined accept- 
ing a dispensation from its use under condition of making that acknow- 
ledgment. Being thence removed from office (in the " United " Church) 
in 1847, (which he had held since 1841,) he ministered for some years to 
a Nonconformist congregation at " Seefeld," whence he was called to act 
as "Co-director of the Lutheran Missionary Society" at Leipzig, until, 
in 1857, he accepted, at great sacrifice, the unanimous call of a poor 
Lutheran congregation at Waldenburg, in Silesia, of which he is still the 
pastor. 

In a recent translation of his " Gospel of St John," published by Messrs 
T. & T. Clark of Edinburgh, the translator, a Mrs Huxtable, has mistaken 
the author for his cousin, " Eudolph " Besser, the well-known publisher of 
Gotha; an en or which, at his request, I take this opportunity of correct- 
ing, Dr" Besser's name is " Wilhelm Friedrich." 



XIV PKEFACE. 

by him with the weapons and in the spirit of his great 
exemplar — Saint Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ. 

Hardly two years have elapsed since the appearance of 
Dr Besser's " Paulus," (Leipzig, 1861,) and now another 
edition is called for, with the notes prepared for which the 
author has kindly furnished me for the present translation. 
At his request, I have the pleasure of expressing his in- 
debtedness to " The Life and Epistles of St Paul," by W. J. 
Conybeare and J. S. Howson, (London, 1853.) Nor can I 
forbear to join my own thanks, with those of the author, 
to the Eev. Dr Howson, Principal of the Collegiate Insti- 
tution, Liverpool, for his very kind exertions to secure a 
publisher for this little work, which Dr Besser owns to be 
the " darling" among his "literary children." And, finally, 
our joint prayer is, that many readers may be incited by 
the perusal of these pages to become the followers of Paul, 
even as he was of Christ. 

F. BULTMANK 



Oldenbtjeg, 31«« Oct. 1863. 



CONTEiNTS. 



I. THE CHOSEN VESSEL, 
II. THE PHAEISEE, 

III. THE PERSECUTOR, 

IV. THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS, 
V. THE LABOURER, , 

VI. THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST, 
VII. THE MAN OF FAITH, 
VIII. THE MAN OF HOPE, 

IX. THE MAN OF LOVE, 

X. THE MAN OF THE CHURCH,. 



PAGB 

1 

14 

23 

33 

44 

71 

98 

124 

162 

184 



THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 

" God separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace." 
—Gal. i. 15. 

St Paul laboured more than all the apostles, but also 
wearied the Lord more with his sins, and is himseK a 
masterpiece of that divine grace, the exceeding riches 
of which he preached and extolled more than any of 
them. Yea, it is what he was in Christ which gives that 
peculiar soul- winning attraction to his preaching of Christ. 
Upon the shoulders of this Israelite of the tribe of Ben- 
jamin, " the beloved of the Lord," rests the loveliness of the 
Lord, (Deut. xxxiii. 12,) viz., the Church gathered from 
among the Gentiles and become "the Israel of God;" and 
as in her the manifold wisdom of God is made kno^vn unto 
principalities and powers in heavenly places, (Eph. iii. 10,) 
so the manifold lustre of the grace of Christ is reflected in 
the instrument He chose for effecting that blessed end. 
St Paul does not stand by the side of the twelve apostles 
as the thirteenth, but as the one to whom, though 
last called, the mystery of the embodying of the Gentiles 
into the Church of Christ — as ''the Israel of God," (Gal. 
vi. 16,) — was made known first, even before St Peter. And 
when we read of St John seeing the names of the twelve 
apostles of the Lamb engraven in the twelve foundations of 
the new Jerusalem, (Rev. xxi. 14,) this twelve-fold splen- 
dour, we might almost say, is reflected in the one great 

A 



2 ST PAUL. 

apostle of tlie Gentiles, who, by the very discharge of his 
high commission — to bring the Gentiles to the obedience 
of the faith — became, as it were, a saving angel also to his 
own brethren after the flesh, by inciting them to emula- 
tion, as the last means of restoring the remnant of that 
fallen race to the true Israel of God, (Eom. ix. 27, xi. 
5, 14.) * Could life-portraits be drawn of the apostles and 
other eminent servants of God, St Paul's certainly would 
be one of the richest, and would shine resplendent in a 
picture gallery of biblical characters. Yea, and were we 
to single out one of the many precious jewels shining in 
the Eedeemer's crown, St Paul would be that jewel, for in 
this ''chosen vessel" the Holy Spirit has caused to shine 
with special lustre the image of Christ, (2 Cor. iii. 18.) In 
him we hear the opposite of " sounding brass," or " tinkling 
cymbal," his whole character and life being the sweetest 
melody to the theme of his apostolical teaching. 

Let us now, with humble thankfulness to the Giver of all 
grace, contemplate the character of this " chosen vessel," 
through whom Christ has bequeathed to His Church a rich 
store of imperishable blessings, from which thousands in 
all ages have drawn for their souls treasures of unspeak- 
able worth ; which, however, will be appreciated by us 
only in proportion as we desire to become followers of 
him, ''as he was of Christ." 

" By God's grace I am what I am," says the apostle, 
(1 Cor. XV. 10,) and therewith looks back from the height 
of his apostolical career through all the wonderful ways 
God had led him, down to the very " hole of the pit whence 
he was digged." Por what does he mean by God having 
separated and called him by His grace ? Surely he would 
not have us infer from it, that God had done so, because 

* A further explanation of this — and especially the word " last " — the 
reader may expect in the author's peculiar interpretation of Rom. xi. — Te. 



THE CHOSEN" VESSEL. 3 

He foresaw what hereafter would become of him. No, 
God's prescience is never an idle, always an effective know- 
ledge. " Thou hast possessed my reins/' prays David ; 
*' thou hast covered me in my mother's womb/' (Ps. cxxxix. 
13.) So with regard to this " chosen vessel " — the Israelite 
Saul of Benjamin's tribe, — God from his mother's womb 
effectively separated and called him unto that definite end 
for which His grace was to fit him in time. His natural 
endowments, his talents, his temperament, the tone and 
disposition of his character, his frailty of body and strength 
of soul, his very birthplace, society and education : all 
these, and a thousand other things, were not foreknown 
only by God — for " known unto Him are all His works," 
— but His guiding hand so directed and disposed them all, 
as best to magnify in and through this " chosen vessel " the 
abundant riches of His mercy and grace in Christ. 

Twice the apostle mentions his descent from the tribe 
of Benjamin, (Eom. xi. 1 ; Phil. iii. 5.) Besides this we 
find hardly any distinction by tribe mentioned in the 
I^ew Testament. With the exception of Elizabeth, the 
daughter of Aaron, (Luke i. 4,) in whose son Levi found 
his greatest representative, (Matt. xi. 11,) and above all 
Mary, of the house of David, (Luke i. 27,) in whose son 
Judah found his Shiloh, (Gen. xlix. 10 ; Ptev. v. 5,) we only 
find two persons mentioned by their tribe — Anna a pro- 
phetess of the tribe of Aser, (Luke ii. 36,) and Barnabas 
a Levite of Cyprus, (Acts iv. 36.) Not one even of the 
twelve apostles is distinguished by his tribe. No doubt 
Paul had studied the history of his own with special care 
and interest, nor can we help tracing in it some significant 
parallels to his own life. A Benoni ('' son of sorrows") 
Saul also was, and became a Benjamin, (" son of my right 
hand,") on finding his heavenly Joseph, whom — like the 
patriarch his brother — he met away from Israel, in a 



4 ST PAUL. 

heathen land. The warlike propensity of this tribe, borne 
from Jacob's blessing, (Gen. xlix. 27,) through the genera- 
tions of Israel, was to find, as it were, its consummation in 
him. For as Saul, the Benjamite of old, persecuted David 
of Judah, (whose reign, nevertheless, he could not prevent,) 
so this new Saul persecuted the son of David, till — the bow 
of his native strength being broken — he swore allegiance to 
" the Lion of the tribe of Juda," and henceforth fought 
manfully under His banner, enduring hardness as a good 
soldier " of Christ." 

St Paul's family seems to have been scattered through 
heathen lands : Macedonia, Greece and Eome, (cf Eom. xvi. 
7, 11, 22.) He himself, we know, was a native of Tarsus in 
Cilicia, and he inherited from his father the freedom of a 
Roman citizen, (Acts xxi. 39, xxii. 28.) Yet not Eome, but 
Jerusalem was the pride of his family. Where he calls to re- 
membrance Timothy's blessing, as inherited from his pious 
mother and grandmother, there he makes mention also of 
his own devout forefathers, from whom he served God with 
a pure conscience, (2 Tim. i. 3.) Thus we find young Saul 
growing up in the bosom of a family, outwardly indeed the 
citizens of heathen Eome, but inwardly clinging to the 
land of their fathers, and doubtless the more eagerly long- 
ing for the Hope of their nation, since she was doomed still 
to dwell among the heathen, where she found no rest, (Lam. 
i.3.) 

Israel's King and Saviour had already appeared, when 
young Saul was stiU. learning of his parents to sigh Avith 
the prophet : " Watchman, what of the night ? " For to 
Tarsus the fame of the great Prophet, in whom God had 
visited His people, had most likely not reached ere young 
Saul left it for Jerusalem ; where, however, he may have 
already been living, probably in the house of his married 
sister, (Acts xxiii. 16,) at the time when, amid loud 



THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 5 

hosannas, Zion's King entered that city, and wh-en, but 
a few days after, Zion's Saviour was led as a lamb to the 
slaughter. J^or could he help hearing of what set all Jeru- 
salem in commotion, (Luke xxiv. 18;) but seeking, as then 
he was, his own righteousness, and learning from his 
teachers, the Pharisees, that '' this man " was " a sinner,'" 
he might scorn to run along with the multitude in order 
to see Him. Some of his kinsmen — Andronicus and Junia 
— we know '' were in Christ before " him, and so was the 
wife of Simon (the cross-bearer) of Cyrene, the mother of 
his friend Kufus, for she also became his mother in the 
Lord, (Eom. xvi. 7, 13.) But Saul, separated from his 
mother's womb, long resisted the drawings of divine grace, 
scorning in pharisaic righteousness the very thought of a 
crucified Saviour for sinners. And yet the Lord was 
already preparing His chosen vessel in this proud youth 
of Benjamin. 

A religious sense — that tie of the human heart to God 
— was ever strong in Saul, though as yet he was, in misbe- 
lief, pursuing a phantom of his own creation. It was the 
misconceived notion of Israel's return to righteousness, and 
thence to merited glory and perpetual reign under the pro- 
mised son of David, which formed the centre of all his 
hopes and aims, so long as, in ignorance of God's righteous- 
ness by faith in Christ, he went about to establish his own 
by the works of the law. It has often been remarked, that 
Saul possessed all the natural requisites for becoming what 
the world caUs a " great man." And true it is, by the 
energy of his will, and the uncommon quickness of his 
thought, he would have made an excellent commander ; or 
a poet, by the depth and tenderness of his feeling ; or a 
philosopher, by the acuteness of his subtle reasonings ; or 
a statesman, by his discernment of men and his masterly 
method of order. The same Lord who caUed unlearned 



b ST PAUL. 

fishermen and publicans to be apostles, (in accordance with 
1 Cor. i. 26-29,) fitted this future apostle of the Gentiles with 
a fulness of natural gifts rarely equalled, to make him, as it 
were, a silver vessel for the golden contents of His grace. 

One striking feature in his being separated from the 
womb for God's service was the early and constant bent of 
his life toward Jerusalem, his people's glory. Though as 
yet he knew not the free Jerusalem which is above, yet his 
Jewish patriotism would make him enter heart and soul 
into Israel's song of Zion : '' If I forget thee, Jerusalem ! 
let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remem- 
ber thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if 
I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy," (Ps. cxxxvii.) 
To establish Israel's righteousness after the law, and with 
his people to witness Jerusalem's prosperity, was all the 
bent of his strong mind, of the granite-like constancy of his 
character. There was no difiiculty from which he would 
shrink, no wall he would not attempt to climb; and foiled 
ever so often, he would return to the struggle and labour 
on. His tenderest feelings of sympathy — afterwards en- 
nobled into love — were excited by the wretched degrada- 
tion of his down-trodden nation. It was, as it were, the 
time of Israel's widowhood ; and in his willing celibacy he 
felt as though he were betrothed to her, and his life devoted 
to her service. All the riches of his mind, — his rare talent 
for making deductions and logically resolving a subject 
into its parts, unfolding the rich meaning of a single word, 
and studding, as it were, out of one germ, a whole meadow 
with flowers, the ingenious, yea, fountain-like originality 
wherewith thought after thought seems to issue forth from 
one fundamental idea, around which all range themselves 
in order, like the circumference of a circle around its centre, 
his pointed wit, too, and his charming grace, — in fine, all 
his talents and powers of mind centered in this one object : 



THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 7 

Israel's restoration to lier pristine glory, by a return to her 
national righteousness after the law, as the condition laid 
down in Moses and the Prophets, — in a word, to see all the 
gracious thoughts of the God of his fathers realised con- 
cerning His people. I^or were his energies, wrongly directed 
,as now they were, exerted in vain ; for they sensed to pre- 
pare for His high offi.ce the future herald of Christ's right- 
eousness. All the munition of legal learning which now 
he brought into the field against Christ was hereafter to 
be turned into a crusliing weapon against pharisaic 
Judaism. 

From Acts xxii. 3, we know that young Saul was brought 
up and taught according to the "perfect manner of the 
law " by one Gamaliel, a Pharisee, and doctor of the law, 
held in reputation among all the people, and who is pre- 
sented to us by St Luke, (Acts v. 34, &c.,) in the favour- 
able light of shielding the apostles' lives by his equitable 
advocacy in their behalf, thus shewing him to have been a 
very different man from the worldly, persecuting Sadducees, 
(ib. ver. 17,) from whose infidel tenets he would turn with 
disgust, far as he himself might be from seeking the hope 
of Israel in a crucified and risen Eedeemer. The wonders 
wrought in Solomon's porch by the hands of the apostles, 
(ib. ver. 12-16,) and Peter's bold defence and testimony of 
Christ before the Council, (ib. ver. 29-32,) could not, indeed, 
fail to bring the question home to his heart, whether this 
work might not be of God, (ib. ver. 39 ;) but, like a true 
Pharisee, he would look for the kingdom of God to come 
" with observation," (Luke xvii. 20,) and therefore probably 
expect, that if this Jesus whom Peter preached to be '' a 
Prince and a Saviour," were indeed the promised Messiah, 
God would shew Him (as such) openly on Mount Sion, and 
lay all the heathen prostrate at His feet. AVith what eager- 
ness may young Saul have listened to this honourable Phari- 



8 ST PAUL. 

see ! and how, sitting at his feet, would all his attention be 
absorbed in his arguments, as he might seek to demon- 
strate out of Moses and the Prophets the character of their 
still-longed-for Messiah, sitting upon the throne of David, 
awarding eternal life to His chosen people, the heathen and 
uttermost parts of the earth His possession, Israel's laws 
those of the world, and Jerusalem's temple a house of 
prayer for all people ! How would Saul's youthful soul, 
thirsting for the glory of Israel, revel in prospects like 
these ! and how, under such transporting thoughts, would 
his ire be stirred, when he heard one of the despised sect 
of the Nazarene tear to pieces, by his spirited arguments, 
all these carnal hopes of the Pharisees, who, unable to re- 
sist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake, suborned 
men, accusing him of " blasphemous words against Moses 
and against God," (Acts vi. 10, 11.) Yet Saul was soon to 
become heir to both the wisdom and spirit of this faithful 
confessor ; and we have to look upon his meeting with St 
Stephen as, under God's providence, one of the most power- 
ful demonstrations of that grace which was already seek- 
ing his soul, though he knew it not. 

Gamaliel's teaching, however, of Jewish law and divinity, 
was not the limit of Saul's education; he was trained, 
moreover, from his youth in Grecian knowledge and wis- 
dom. When yet a boy in his native town of Tarsus he had 
already the opportunity of hearing those that were masters 
in Hellenic art, rhetoric and philosophy. Strabo, in speaking 
of the inhabitants of that famous city, says that they displayed 
such zeal in philosophy and all branches of general science, 
that they excelled those of all other towns, not even ex- 
cepting Athens and Alexandria. Though designed for a 
rabbi, Saul, according to Jewish custom, also learned a 
handicraft — that of tent-maker, (Acts xviii. 3.) Still he 
found time for learned studies. As he read the Greek poets 



THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 9 

and pliilosopliers, (cf. Acts xvii. 28 ; Tit. i. 12 J and as he 
followed the winding ways in which their heathen minds 
sought after the unknown God, if haply they might feel 
after and find Him ; — as he gained insight into the history 
of their deep fall into spiritual and moral depravity, into 
their outward splendour and inner wretchedness; — as he 
was led to contemplate the goodness of God, both in His 
judgments and preservation of them ; — as he made himself 
master of the language then spoken by all the learned in 
the whole world, and in which human genius has woven 
its finest and richest garment, — Saul knew not to whose 
service all this acquisition of knowledge was destined to be 
devoted ; that even this training also belonged to the separa- 
tion from his mother's womb for the service of Christ among 
the Gentiles — "Tor all things serve thee," (Ps. cxix. 91.) 
The Holy Ghost, by whom " holy men of God are moved " 
to speak and act, despises not to make use of all the powers 
of the human mind, after He has purified and consecrated 
them. To the picture of the man who preached and 
"taught publicly, and from house to house," who was "in- 
stant in season and out of season," who " ceased not to 
warn every one night and day with tears," and who, beside 
that which came upon him daily — "the care of all the 
churches," yet ministered with his hands unto his own 
necessities and those that were with him ; — to the picture 
of that man, also, belongs this trait, that amid all his 
labours he still continued to study and to read, even re- 
questing Timothy, in the very last epistle he wrote — when 
already brought before I^ero the second time — to bring 
him "the books and parchments" which he had left at 
Troas, (2 Tim. iv. 13.) 

Yet, taught by grace, how little did this great man think 
of himself! To the Corinthians he writes: "Of myself 
I will not glory, but in mine infirmities," (2 Cor. xii. 5.) 



10 ST PAUL. 

He knew that lie had nothing which he had not received, 
(1 Cor. iv. 7.) His greatest privileges by birth and advan- 
tages by nature, all these he counted but " loss/' yea, but 
" dung " for the " excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus " his Lord, (Phil. iii. 4, &c.) Not the strength he 
had inherited from his mother's womb, but his very v^^eak- 
ness he looked upon as a preparatory grace of Him that 
called him. And a twofold weakness this was. As an 
adherent of the " straitest sect of Jews," (Acts xxvi. 5,) he 
was made to experience, under the burden of the law, that 
weakness of which he speaks, (Eom. v. 6,) 'Tor when we 
were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for us." 
But of this weakness, which he was deeply to experience 
under grace's training, we shall come to speak in the 
next chapter — Saul " the Pharisee." Here we shall speak 
of that "weakness" and those ''infirmities," of which he 
says, " Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in them, 
that the power of Christ may rest upon me," (2 Cor. xii. 9.) 
What he means by the " thorn in the flesh," (v. 7,) which 
he had to carry about with him, " the messenger of Satan " 
to buffet him, (after the manner of Job,) he has wisely 
withheld from us, not unlikely for this obvious reason, 
that every Christian, suffering under whatsoever tempta- 
tion, might have the benefit of applying to his own pecu- 
liar case the ghostly comfort to be derived from this doleful 
apostolic confession. Far from rejecting Luther's view of 
the apostle alluding to some "great spiritual temptation," 
yet we deem it more than likely that Satan, as his basis 
for buffeting him, had recourse to some grievous bodily 
affliction, — a view which seems clearly indicated by many 
allusions we find in his Epistles. " Through infirmity of 
the flesh" he preached the gospel to the Galatians, 
and he praises them for not having despised or taken 
offence at his "temptation which was in the flesh," 



THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 11 

(Gral. iv. 13, 14.) His proud opponents at Corinth, lie 
hears say of him : " His letters are weighty and power- 
ful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech 
contemptible," (2 Cor. x. 10; cf. v. 1: "who in pre- 
sence am base among you.") Thus, it should seem, we 
have to think of the apostle as in his person w^eak and 
infirm; and as such Eaphael has also painted him. "A 
poor, lean, little man, like Master Philip," (Melancthon,) so 
Luther thought of him ; and Mcophorus Callisti, an Orien- 
tal Church historian of the fourteenth century, also calls 
him " a short, stooping man." Nor is it improbable, that 
his first acquaintance with Luke was as his "beloved 
physician ; " and Phoebe's succour and Mary's labour (Eom. 
xvi. 2, 6) may likewise have been bestowed on his bodily 
infirmities. But why does he glory in such his infirmities ? 
Because he was thereby drawn to cast himself entirely 
into the arms of his heavenly Lord. If we read the regis- 
ter of his labours and sufferings, which, in sorrow to be 
compelled to such "foolish boasting," he details in 2 Cor. 
xi. ; if we hear him relate to the elders of the Ephesian 
church at Miletus in what manner he had been with them 
at all seasons, (Acts xx. 17, &c. ;) if we follow his whole 
course from Jerusalem to Eome, as St Luke has penned it, 
and add to it the entire train of sacrifices his Epistles 
develop, truly a gigantic strength would seem to have 
been requisite for undergoing all that labour — all those 
sufferings ! But, behold, his body was feeble ! " I can do 
all things through Christ which strengtheneth me," (Phil, 
iv. 13.) To make this precious truth the more deeply felt, 
it was to this end that he inherited such weakness from his 
mother's womb. By the power of Christ alone he would 
allow himself to be borne, (2 Cor. iv. 10,) learning thus to 
express the mystery of his strength : " When I am weak, 
then am I strong," (2 Cor. xii. 10.) With this view even 



12 ST PAUL. 

the frail body of this chosen vessel was formed ; and right 
well was proved and exemplified in Paul what the blessed 
Woltersdorf sings of his own experience : — 

" And though it go through weakness e'er so sad, 

I follow, at His call, my heavenly guide ; 
The work which does but rest on Christ my head, 

Despite my impotence, must sure abide. 
When sick are both the body and the soul. 
We see that Jesus only does the whole." 

From the above-quoted taunt of his adversaries at Corinth, 
"his speech is contemptible," it would appear that the 
apostle had some defect in his tongue, which hindered him 
from becoming what the world calls a "good speaker;" 
and, indeed, he himself says : " Though I be rude in speech, 
[literally, a lay-speaker,] yet not in knowledge; but we 
have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all 
things," (2 Cor. xi. 6.) Strange ! Paul no speaker. And 
certainly ApoUos better pleased the ticklish ears of the 
Corinthians; and the Athenians, whose ears were still 
more spoiled, called him a "babbler," (Acts xvii. 18,) 
enough to shew that he had not the best natural organ of 
speech. A strong, and often violent struggle with language 
which he forces into the expression of divine thoughts, is 
his idiom. While " casting down imaginations, and every 
high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of 
God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the 
obedience of Christ," (2 Cor. x. 5,) he could not bring to 
his aid the carnal weapons of a powerful organ, a modula- 
tion of voice, or an imposing person. But what his all- 
prevailing weapon was, he tells us in 1 Cor. ii. 4 ; it con- 
sisted in " demonstration of the Spirit and of power." Not 
any " excellency of speech or of wis dorp.," but solely the 
things he preached, the spirit in which he preached them, 
and the fulness of life out of which he drew them : this 



THE CHOSEN VESSEL. 13 

was what attracted men's hearts, and drew so many souls 
to Christ. Demosthenes, the great orator of Greece, forced 
his heavy tongue, by persevering efforts, into suppleness 
and eloquence; but Paul, like Moses, "of a slow tongue," 
painted, in "contemptible speech," before all men's eyes, 
Him who had ''no form nor comeliness," and yet was " fairer 
than the children of men," and " full of grace in His lips." 
Tertullus, the Eoman orator, (Acts xxiv. 1, &c.,) no doubt 
surpassed Paul in rhetorical art, yet how undauntedly does 
the apostle open his mouth before Jews and Gentiles, 
high priests and kings, in his weakness leaning upon Him 
who hath said, ''I will give you a mouth and wisdom, 
which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor 
resist," (Luke xxi. 15.) 

Thus strength and weakness both were made to serve 
in making this " chosen vessel " of the Lord w^hat through 
grace he became. 

" Though separated from his mother's womb, 

And chose a vessel meet for heav'nly use, 
Paul, that his nature might to grace succumb, 

Was led through bitter ways man would not choose ; 
For first must die in him the man called Saul, 
That grace supreme might live and reign in Paul." 



14 ST PAUL. 



II. 

THE PHAEISEE. 

'' I was alive without the law once ; but when the commandment came, 
sin revived." — Eom. vii. 9. 

Such a Pharisee as the man in Luke xviii. 11, satisfied in 
his negative righteousness, Saul was not. No, he took 
bitter pains in his Pharisaism, walking, as he w^as taught, 
according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, 
being zealous toward God, (Acts xxii. 3 ;) and he painfully 
felt the rod of the legal driver, when, ignorant of God's 
righteousness, he went about to establish his own, (Eom. 
X, 3.) The star of his hope, the glorious splendour of Mes- 
siah's reign, he could conceive only as rising over ''a righteous 
nation which keepeth the truth," or ''the faith," (as Luther 
has rendered Is. xxvi. 2.) To keep the faith was all Saul's 
aim ; but he knew not what faith is, though we have learnt 
it of Paul to be no human work nor virtue, but that organ 
wrought in our heart through God's word and Spirit, by 
means of which we apprehend and receive with childlike 
trust and confidence, the riches of His grace in Christ 
Jesus our Lord. But to Saul the Pharisee it still was a 
work, .a legal virtue, the due respect and literal observance 
of all God-appointed institutions and ordinances, circum- 
cision, the passover, and the reading of the Law and the 
Prophets on every Sabbath ; all which he kept strictly, and 
walked in unblamably. '' Prepare ye the way of the Lord ! " 
This prophetic call to repentance would sound in Saul's 



THE PHARISEE. 15 

ear as a spur to unreraitting exertions; for not till his 
nation should have returned to unblamable righteousness 
could he think that Messiah would appear to deliver Israel 
from all her enemies, and crown His chosen people with 
glory and honour in His kingdom of righteousness. These 
were the cravings of Saul's soul. 

" Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blame- 
less," (Phil. iii. 6,) this was his motto as a Pharisee. Be- 
fore men he had succeeded in obtaining this blamelessness, 
and to obtain it before God did not appear to him out of 
the reach of his power. For how should God have given 
laws to His people which they were not able to keep ? Eight- 
eousness, then, must verily be obtainable by the deeds of 
the law, which must give life, or else it were not ''holy 
and just, and good." So Saul argued and thought. Had 
he been a hypocritical, or even superficial Pharisee, the 
coming to a compromise with the requirements of the law 
might have caused him little difficulty. But he felt the 
deadly point of the law in the tenth commandment, " Thou 
shalt not covet," (Eom. vii. 7 ;) and the knowledge of its 
spirituality discovered to him that he was " carnal, sold 
under sin," (Eom. vii. 14.)* But did this discovery make 

* Like that honest farmer (Michael was his name) who, on his death- 
bed, called out to his son: "Jack, just reach down the Catechism from 
yonder shelf, to see how my past life agrees with it. Please, read me the 
commandments." "Thou shalt have none other gods but me. Thou 
shalt not make to thyself any graven image," &c. " Oh, these two I have 
always kept ; I have neither worshipped idols, like the heathen, nor bowed 
down to images, like the Roman Catholics, Please, proceed to the third." 
" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," &c. " Here 
I am right also ; I never swore an oath except in a court of justice; pray, 
pass to the next." " Eemember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day." 
" Oh, there I am not to blame either ; I have always gone to church of a 
Sunday, and never played at cards, nor made my servants work. Which 
follows now?" "Honour thy father and thy motlicr." "Ay, as to that, 
Jack, I may well bid you follow my example ; for when a boy I shewed 



16 ST PAUL. 

Saul lose trust in his own power ? By no means ; it incited 
him only the more earnestly to set about establishing his 
own righteousness. "And I profited/' he says, "in the 
Jews' religion above many mine equals in mine own 
nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions 
of my fathers," (Gal. i. 14.) He knew only one way of 
silencing his conscience, which accused him of the lust 
stirred up in his members by the commandment ; and that 
was, by keeping the commandment. Even that chiefest 
of all : " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might," 
(Deut. vi. 5,) he despaired not to attain to it, and therefore 
entered his resolute '' ISTo " to the death-threatening sen- 
tence of the law. He knew nothing yet of the law '' work- 
ing death " in him, " that sin by the commandment might 
become exceeding sinful," (Eom. vii. 13 ;) and, as dying unto 
sin was still a strange doctrine to him, he was utterly un- 
willing to die by sin ; and therefore strove with all his 
might to get the mastery over it, that he might live by 
righteousness. Stung by the commandment, sin would 
take occasion daily to gnaw at the fair flower of his self- 
righteousness, making it fade and droop ; but daily also 

all honour and respect to my poor parents, God bless them ! What 'a the 
next ? " " Thou shalt do no murder." " Thank God, that 's not on my 
conscience. I never slew a man, not even in lawful war. Go on." " Thou 
shalt not commit adultery." " Of that I have kept clear also, and always 
been faithful to your poor mother. Proceed." " Thou shalt not steal." 
" I never took aught did not belong to me. ^Rext." " Thou shalt not 
bear false witness against thy neigbour." " I never was summoned as wit- 
ness, nor would I swear falsely against any person. Are there any more ? " 
" Yes, one : Thou shalt not covet." Stop, Jack ! there, I^ must think a 
little ; yes, I cannot say I have never coveted. Pray, look for poor mamma's 
Bible on the subject." And here Jack found a reference from Exod. 
XX, to Matt, v., by which the upright farmer was soon led to see that he 
had broken the whole, and, becoming fully conscious of his exceeding sin- 
fulness, he betook himself to that Christ whom Paul preached, and died 
a penitent. — Te. 



THE PHARISEE. 17 

would he water it anew by self-imposed acts of a legal 
martyrdom, and thus prolong its artificial existence. And 
why was he so careful and zealous ? whom did he really 
serve? He indeed imagined that he was serving the God 
of his fathers, while in fact he was committing sacrilege. 
(Eom. ii. 22 ;) because all the while only feeding the pride 
of that high and noble youth " of the stock of Israel, of 
the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as 
touching the law, a Pharisee," (Phil, iii 5.) Saul ! 
"thou art w^earied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst 
thou not, There is no hope : thou hast found the life of 
thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved/ (Isa. Ivii. 10.) 
More sharply Paul could not have condemned his 
Pharisaism, more severely he could not have proved his 
own infatuated self-deception of this period, than by the 
words we have chosen for the motto of this chapter, '' I 
was alive without the law once." And herewith he does 
not mean the life of his childhood, when yet unconscious 
of the law's '' Thou shalt," and '' Thou shalt not ; " when 
lust had not yet appeared unto him as sin, and death not 
been felt by him as the punishment of it. For he adds, 
" and I died." But if this death had taken place on his 
first awakening to a consciousness of the law, he could no 
longer have ''found the life of his own hand," and of his 
Pharisaism there would have been an end. This was not 
the case ; on the contrary, unwilling to the last to concede 
the ''killing letter" a right over him, he continued his ut- 
most efforts to ward off the death-thrusts of the law by 
trying to turn its flaming testimony against sin into a 
quenching engine against God's wrath. Thus, though in 
truth panting under the burden of the law, he fancied him- 
self to be " alive without the law ; " while, by his right- 
eousness after, the law, he constantly, but fruitlessly, 
sought to secure this imaginary life against the consuming 

B 



18 ST PAUL. 

fire of that very law, the brightness of which no man can 
bear to behold. Out of the wretchedness of this experience 
he speaks, when he says, '' But even unto this day, when 
Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart," (2 Cor. iii. 15.) 
Only from behind this vail, woven thick as scales out of 
the illusions of man's free-will, can man bear to look upon 
the law, and take it to be the strength of righteousness, 
w^hilst in truth it is the strength of sin, (1 Cor. xv. 56.) 
Let us rightly understand St Paul's humble confession, " I 
was alive without the law once." Saul the Pharisee's 
error certainly was not that he took it over strictly with 
God's holy commandments. God indeed takes it far more 
strictly than the strictest Pharisee. On the contrary, his 
grievous fault was, with a serious face, to play, as it were, 
at hide-and-seek with the law. But it found him out in 
every place. Ever nearer and nearer it went to his life ; 
and the issue, alas ! of his unhappy marriage with it was 
one fruit after another brought forth unto death, (Eom. vii. 
5.) A legion of lusts, doubts, unbelief, murmurings, or 
even enmity against the true God of the unflattering and 
unswerving law; in fine, the entire host of sins lurking 
in the flesh, revived and issued forth from their hiding- 
places at law's call ; and thus sin by the commandment 
became exceeding sinful, (Eom vii. 13.) His fancied life 
" without the law," and the illusion of a righteousness 
after the Pharisaic phantom of the law, it became daily 
more difficult for him to maintain ; yea it was a life of 
death nigh unto hell. And yet Saul the Pharisee would 
rather prolong it by seeking, in hot conflict, to parry the 
death-stroke of the law, than die under the cry of help- 
less weakness, " God be merciful to me a sinner ! " 

That this was pride, Saul would not then acknowledge, 
being zealous, as he thought, not for his own honour, but 
for that of the God of Israel ; and indignant, not so much 



THE PHARISEE. 19 

against tlie reproacli of liTiman nature, as being too weak 
to work God's righteousness, but rather the blasphemous 
thought that the law was unable to effect it. The in- 
ability of the former to be '' subject to the law of God" 
(Eom. viii. 7,) he would not own, for the very reason that 
this admission would imply the other, that " the law was 
weak through the flesh," (Eom. viii. 3 ;) which must have 
shaken Ms faith in God altogether, for Him he knew not 
yet, who, by His perfect obedience to the will of God, and 
His atoning death for sinners, has brought in another 
righteousness, even that of faith. An adulterer, therefore, 
in the sense of Eom. vii. 3, Saul would have become, had 
he escaped from under the yoke of righteousness by the 
law, ere he knew of another, by faith in Christ Jesus. 
Thus, then, he was a very different man from those who 
boast of their freedom from the law without any " obedi- 
ence to the faith," or, in other words, who make void the 
law, instead of establishing it through faith, (Eom. iii. 31.) 
To his experience rather that word of Christ would 
come home, " If any man will do His will, he shall know 
of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak 
of myself," (John vii. 17.) This will of God, Saul found 
expressed in the law, to fulfil which he set to work all the 
powers of his wiU, in order only to learn that he was a 
lost and condemned sinner, needing a Saviour such as 
Christ Jesus. Though, indeed, Paul himself would give 
us the lie, were we to say that God had manifested His 
Son to him in reward of his earnestness and sincerity, 
(Eom ix. 16, xi. 6 :) yet — to agree with Paul — we shaU be 
correct in saying, that God's grace followed him in all the 
ways of his infatuated blindness, till, by the repeated 
chastisements of the law, as " our schoolmaster to bring us 
unto Christ," (Gal. iii. 24,) he was so " wearied in the 
greatness of his way," that it needed but " the heavenly 



20 ST PAUL. 

voice/' in order to throw himself at once and completely 
into the arms of his merciful Saviour. He that was to 
become a Paul, strong by grace of faith, had first to expe- 
rience in Saul his utter inability to acquire a righteousness 
by the deeds of the law. The Jews' advantage over the 
Gentiles in their possessing the Eevelation, served to 
sharpen the accusations of their conscience through the 
broken law, in order that the true Israel, that is, the Church 
of Christ — being raised on the wrecks of Judaism — might, 
through grace, let the doctrine of righteousness by faith in 
Christ shine resplendent through all lands, to the joy of 
all true children of Abraham, (cf Eom. iii. and iv., and 
Gal. iii.) 

Saul, the Pharisee, and Luther, the Austin friar, form a 
pair. The sophists, at whose feet Luther sat and studied 
his divinity, were very dexterous in the art of weaving 
veils, not only for Moses and the prophets, but also for 
Christ and His apostles, in order to conceal both the splen- 
dour of the law and the comforting light of the gospel, and 
thus to place in advantageous relief the bright shining qua- 
lities of the natural man. But for all that, Luther came 
under anguish of sin by the terrors of the law ; the lightning- 
conductors fabricated by the "idle" scholastics to ward 
off its strokes did not shield him. As Saul at Jerusalem 
was intent on gaining merit by the diligent keeping of 
the Jewish ordinances, or pacifying the accusations of his 
conscience by legal acts of devotion and self-sacrifice, so 
Luther, in the monastery at Erfurt. Therefore, after Christ 
had shined into both their hearts, Luther learnt so tho- 
roughly to understand Paul, that, unawed by the opposition 
of Eomish pharisees and scribes — ^strutting along against 
him with proofs, wherewith he himself, as monk, had endea- 
voured in vain to pacify his alarmed soul — he went on 
boldly to exalt Christ's blood and righteousness as the 



THE PHARISEE. 21 

only remedy and refuge for sinners. " If there was ever 
any man/' he could say, after the manner of Paul, (Acts 
xxii. 3, &c. ; Phil. iii. 4-6,) " who held in repute the Pope's 
ordinances, and was zealous for the traditions of our 
fathers, it was I, who have heartily defended and looked 
upon them as holy relics, and upon their observance as 
indeed necessary to salvation ; yea, to keep them inviolate 
I have tormented my body with fasting, watching, prayer, 
and other exercises, more than all who are now mine ene- 
mies and persecutors ; for I thought in this wise to satisfy 
the law, and shield my conscience from the rod of the 
oppressor. Yet it availed me naught ; yea, the further I 
proceeded in this way the more terrified I grew, so that I 
had nigh despaired, had not Christ mercifully looked upon 
me, and enlightened my heart by the light of His Gospel." 
And when Paul "testified" to his countrymen ''the 
kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both 
out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets," (Acts 
xxviii. 23, &c.,) what else did he do but convince his blind 
brethren that, though living under the law, they were, as 
he himself had once been, " alive without the law;" that 
with all their boast of the law, they mistook and denied 
the power of it? Ever and anon, during his unwearied 
apostolic labours, would his former life as Pharisee come 
fresh to his memory. Made himself a true Israelite, who, 
" through the law," had become " dead to the law," (Gal. 
ii. 19,) he stiU, in his "kinsmen according to the flesh," 
had to re-taste over and over again, to the very dregs, the 
enmity of false Israelites, who, under the law, lived with- 
out the law. But the Church has now, in the apostolic 
teaching of this former Pharisee, to enjoy the fruit of that 
seed which fell into such deeply-furrowed soil. The very 
first sermon St Luke has recorded of him, (at Antioch in 
Pisidia,) how beautifully clear is its evangelical tone ! 



22 ST PAUL. 

'' Be it known nnto you, therefore, men and brethren, that 
through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of 
sins : and by Him all that believe are justified from all 
things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of 
Moses," (Acts xiii. 38, 39 ;) and in the Eomans he sums 
up the preaching of the faith in this short sentence, 
" Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every 
one that believeth," (Eom. x. 4.) 

Gamaliel, Saul's teacher, is celebrated to this day among 
the Jews as the author of a terrible prayer of theirs against 
Jesus of N"azareth. Who made Saul to differ ? The perse- 
cutor of Jesus in His people knew no other cause of his 
salvation than simply God's mercy in Christ. 

" Saul would not die, but his whole soul was bent 

To satisfy the law, and thereby live. 
He scorn'd the thought that God's law should be meant 

To kill, instead of righteousness to give ; 
Yea, and the more he had its smart to feel, 
The more he grew beyond his peers in zeal." 



THE PERSECUTOR. 23 



III. 

THE PEESECUTOE. 

" I persecuted this way unto the death." — Acts xxii, 4. 

" Ye liave received the law by the disposition of angels, 
and have not kept it ! " exclaimed Stephen before the 
Council ; and they were cut to the heart, gnashing on him 
with their teeth, (Acts vii. 53, 54.) How deeply the arrow 
of this word penetrated into Saul's heart, w^e may gather 
from the manner in which, about sixteen * years after, he 
alludes to the same glorious manifestation of the law upon 
Sinai, (Gal. iii. 19 ; cf also Heb. ii. 2.) Stephen's whole 
speech was of a nature to stir to the utmost the enmity 
against Jesus and His followers in the heart of our pharisaic 
zealot for God, for His law, and His people; for, while 
ascribing to God's gracious choice and forbearing mercy 
alone all the glory shining through Israel's history, Stephen, 
with all the fire of a holy zeal for God, rencAved the cutting 
arraignment of God's servant of old against the rebellious 
children of Israel, " Understand, therefore, that the Lord 
thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for 

* This period is evidently too short. From Gal. i. 17, 18, and ii. 1, 
more than seventeen years must have elapsed between Acts ix. and xv. 
And supposing Paul's stay at Antioch (xv. 38) ever so short, and his epistle 
written after his first visit to Galatia, (xvi. 6,) during his stay at Corinth, 
(xviii. 11,) a period of very near tv)enty years must lie between Stephen's 
martyrdom and Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.— Tr. 



24 ST PAUL. 

thy righteousness ; for thou art a stiff-necked people. Ye 
have been rebellious against God from the day that I knew 
you/' (Deut. ix. 6, 24; cf. Acts vii. 51.) The very privi- 
leges of which the Jews were so proud, (Eom. ix. 4, 5) he 
arrayed as witnesses against a disobedient and gainsaying 
people : They are of Israel, but not of the faith of Abra- 
ham; theirs is the adoption, but they deny and betray 
to the heathen the mystery of it, as did their fathers ; 
theirs is the glory, and they profane and desecrate the 
Temple of God ; the covenant, and of its ordinances, circum- 
cision and the passover, they make a false trust for their 
uncircumcised and unbelieving hearts ; the law, and they 
have neither kept it, nor known and acknowledged, as its 
fulfiUer, Him of whom Moses testified ; the service of God, 
and instead of redeeming mercy, they rejoice in the sacri- 
fices of their own hand ; the promises, and they believe 
them not ; theirs are the fathers, and verily they are the 
children of those their fathers, who envied Joseph, and 
sold him into Egypt, " but God was with him ; '' finally, 
from them came Christ, " who is over all, God blessed for 
ever;'' and Stephen thus accuses them: ''Which of the 
prophets have not your fathers persecuted ? And they have 
slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just 
One ; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and mur- 
derers." 

Saul lived heart and soul in the history of his nation. 
He now saw the sanctuary of his holy devotion defamed 
and condemned, and the whole fabric of his pharisaic 
notions of national glory torn and shattered. Let no one 
wonder, then, that Stephen's speech went like a sharp saw 
through his very heart. While accusing the holy Phari- 
sees, one and all, of injustice and the breach of the law, 
Stephen had called Jesus the " Just One ; " and therewith 
had struck wounds into Saul's conscience, to bind up which, 



THE PERSECUTOR. 25 

his tormented soul wonld labour day and night. To the 
heart of this youthful zealot, before whose zeal people were 
already bowing, the conviction would come home with 
irresistible force : Either Stephen or I ; there can be no 
compromise between us ; either Stephen has spoken the 
truth, and then I am lost and undone, or I have been 
rightly instructed in history and Holy Writ, and then this 
Jesus of ISTazareth must have been a false prophet, and his 
disciple is guilty of death. A last struggle this decision 
would inevitably cost him ; but so strongly was the notion 
of Pharisaic sanctity engrained in his flesh, that with 
prayerful imprecations in Jehova's name he would soon be 
led to reject, as a fiendish temptation, every doubt as to 
the correctness of the historical authorities represented by 
the heads of his nation. Thus his rencontre with Stephen 
would form an important turning point in Saul's life, and 
serve to hasten to its last climax his inveterate zeal against 
Jesus of ISTazareth and His followers. From this time, then, 
he was resolved to " persecute this way unto the death.'' 
To serve the God of his fathers was a life and death ques- 
tion with him, and the one point at stake was, AVho is that 
God ? Is it He who in His Christ upon the cross has held 
judgment over the sins of the world, "to declare His 
righteousness," which no flesh, not even that of Israel, can 
satisfy, but which requires the atoning sacrifice of Christ's 
blood, in order to save by grace those who believe in Him ; 
or is it He who will send His Christ to defy the lawless 
heathen, and rescue from their oppression His chosen people, 
keeping the law in righteousness, and to whom, in reward 
for their obedience, He will give the world for a possession ? 
Is it He who, upon the instigation of the Jews, has delivered 
His Christ into the hands of the Gentiles to be scourged and 
crucified by order of Pontius Pilate, before whom He de- 
clared that His kingdom was not of this world, and thereby 



26 ST PAUL. 

traced His people's way through it to be likewise one of 
suffering and death ? or is it He who will send His Christ 
to " judge the world with righteousness and the people with 
His truth/' (Ps. xcvi. 13 J but establish for His own the 
kingdom of Israel in cloudless glory ? Finally, is it He 
who has sent the Spirit of His Christ — now exalted to His 
right hand in heaven — into the hearts of Hispeople, thatthey 
should serve Him, whose '' kingdom is not meat and drink, 
but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," 
and that, living in hope of becoming "joint-heirs with 
Christ," they should reckon the sufferings of this present 
time as not worthy to be compared with- the glory which 
shall be revealed in them," (Eom. viii. 17, 18) ; or is it He 
who will make His Christ appear to His chosen people in 
visible and palpable glory, and so save all Israel at once 
by transforming her present state of helpless servitude into 
one of kingly rule and heavenly felicity, thus fulfilling the 
prayer of our fathers, " Oh that the salvation of Israel were 
come out of Zion ! When the Lord bringeth back the 
captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall 
bie glad," (Ps. xiv. 7.) In his zeal for the glory of the law, 
Saul persecuted Him who bore the curse of the law ; in 
his enthusiasm for the^ national honour of Israel, he per- 
secuted '' the glory of Tiael," (Luke ii. 32,) whom Pilate in 
mockery styled '' the King of the Jews ;" and in his carnal- 
minded enmity to a life of faith he persecuted " the Author 
and Finisher of our faith," whose " kingdom is not of this 
world." 

"But Stephen, being fuU of the Holy Ghost, looked sted- 
fastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus 
standing on the right hand of God, and said. Behold I see 
the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the 
right hand of God : " while to the eyes of the Jews the 
heavens were closed, whither Jesus had ascended, whose 



THE PERSECUTOR. 27 

glory they knew not, (1 Cor. ii. 8.) And shutting their en- 
raged ears, they " ran upon him with one accord, and cast 
him out of the city, and stoned him ; " and the witnesses 
of his supposed blasphemy, whose office it was to cast the 
first stone, prepared for their ''divine service," (Johnxvi. 2,) 
by laying down their clothes at a young man's feet, who 
was the very soul of this zealous deed — even our youthful 
Saul " the persecutor." * 

" In all stones they throw at Stephen 
Saul's soul rages, more than even 
Theirs whose clothes lie at his feet. 
While to die is sweet to Stephen, 
For he sees in open heaven 
Jesus whom his soul shall meet." 

Adam de St Yictok, 

'' Saul was consenting unto his death," writes St Luke 
(Acts viii. 1,) and Paul, upon his being won by Christ, thus 
expresses to the Lord Himself the feeling at his once un- 
happy participation in this scene, ''And when the blood 
of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, 
and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them 
that slew him," (Acts xxii. 20.) Were some Jews, if not 
most, short-sighted enough to imagine Stephen as possessed 
of a different spirit from that of the rest of Christ's disciples, 
Saul, with his penetrating eye, knew better than to think 
that the grave of this one would close over the name of 
the Nazarene, unless every one of " this way " could be de- 
stroyed with him ; and therefore he owns long after, before 
King Agrippa, " I verily thought with myself that I ought 
to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of l^aza- 

* The celebrated Spanish painter Yicente Joannes has represented Saul 
as walking at the martyr's side lost in profound meditation, in striking 
contrast with the wild rabble. Fervent devotion is painted on his face, 
and upon his bror/ falls apparently from far off a ray of light that beams 
from Stephen's face (Acts vi. 15 ;) but which, with as much difficulty as 
determination, he evidently forces himself to ward off. 



28 ST PAUL. 

reth," (Acts xxvi. 9,) and the " ravening wolf " of the tribe 
of Benjamin (Gen. xlix. 27,) deemed it a "profiting in the 
Jews' religion" when he "persecuted the church of God 
and wasted it/' (Gal. i. 13, 14.) And such was the influ- 
ence which Saul — a man already even in his youth — 
exercised over the minds of the people, who hitherto — from 
the powerful, heavenly demonstrations in their behalf — 
had evidently regarded the Apostles and their work with 
reverential awe, if not with favour, (Acts ii. 47, iii. 9-11, 
iv. 21, V. 13, 26,) that from Stephen's martyrdom he car- 
ried them away to a general persecution, he himself their 
leader, '' making havoc of the Church, entered into every 
house, and haling men and women, committed them to 
prison, and when they were put to death, he gave his 
voice against them ; " yea and '' oft in every synagogue " he 
punished and '' compelled them to blaspheme," thus becom- 
ing a murderer of their souls also. ]^or did it satisfy his 
blind zeal for the honour of God and His law to persecute and 
destroy " this way " in Jerusalem only, but " being exceed- 
ingly mad against them," he applied for warrants to the 
chief priests — to whose Sadducean lukewarmness in the 
cause, the fiery Saul might be now becoming rather irk- 
some at Jerusalem — and went with them, destroying the 
churches where he came, ''even unto strange cities," as far 
as Damascus, whence from the " scattered " flock of Christ 
rays of light were already spreading abroad into heathen 
countries, (Acts viii. 3, 4, ix. 1, 2, xxii. 4, 5, xxvi. 9-11.) 

'Not only in his defences made at Jerusalem, first before 
the people, (from the stairs of the chief captain's castle, 
Acts xxi. 37, 40,) and next before Festus and King Agrippa, 
does the Apostle speak of his former benighted life, into 
which the light of grace fell from heaven, but also in his 
epistles he repeatedly calls to mind the remembrance of 
his shame, which he had once accounted honour. How- 



THE PERSECUTOR. 29 

ever much he had learnt to detest it now — having become 
dead unto sin — yet the memory of his heinous guilt and 
disgrace would ever revive, to serve him as a continual 
cause for deep humiliation ; and divine grace would indeed 
shine all the brighter upon the dark background of nature's 
disgrace, to the eternal praise of God's mercy in Christ. 
Where he most extols his office, and confesses what Christ 
has wrought through him, he also bows lowest under an 
overwhelming sense of the grace shewn unto him, and 
writes, " I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet 
to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of 
God," (1 Cor. XV. 9 ; cf. Eph. iii. 8.) An " untimely birth " 
he calls himself, not only " as one born out of due time," 
(1 Cor. XV. 8,) but also as being, by the skilful hand of 
Jesus, the heavenly physician, withdrawn (" separated," if 
not torn) from the bosom of false Judaism. The Gala- 
tians — who, through some Judaisers that troubled them, 
were led to look upon the Apostle's gospel of Christian 
liberty as human — he reminds of his " conversation in time 
past in the Jewish religion," from which neither himself 
nor any man, but solely the grace of God, " by the reve- 
lation of Jesus Christ," had delivered him, (Gal. i. 11, &c.) 
Above all, to Timothy, his " own son in the faith," the 
Apostle pours out his whole heart. Being deeply solicitous 
that he should hold fast the form of sound words, " which 
he had heard of him, " in faith and love which is in Christ 
Jesus," he draws for Timothy, in his own inimitable man- 
ner, the pictui'e of that man from whom he had learnt 
Christ, and to whose " trust the glorious Gospel of the 
blessed God had been committed." " I thank Christ Jesus 
our Lord," he writes, " who hath enabled me, for that he 
counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry ; who 
was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious ; 
but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in un- 



30 ST PAUL. 

belief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant, 
with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a 
faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,'^that Christ 
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am 
chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in 
me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering 
for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on 
him to life everlasting," (1 Tim. i. 12-16.) 

Stephen's dying prayer, " Lord, lay not this sin to their 
charge,'' could be answered for Saul the persecutor, because 
he was one of those for whom Christ prayed upon the 
cross, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do." St Paul was far from entertaining the ungodly notion 
that, because, as persecutor, he had, to the best of his con- 
science, acted in accordance with his conviction, therefore 
his ''zeal to God," though ''not according to knowledge," 
(Eom. X. 2,) had availed aught before Him in procuring his 
favour and acceptance. ISTo, rather his conscience, when 
" pu.rified by faith," accused him of damnable sin, from 
which Christ, of His own mere grace, had saved him. ' ' But I 
obtained mercy," he says, " because, being ignorant, I did 
it in unbelief." To this we firmly hold, while seeing in the 
persecutor's zeal the spirit of the iron-hearted Jew and war- 
like Benjamite, which, sanctified by grace, made him the 
champion he became in the cause of Christ. N'earer, in- 
deed, to the kingdom of God, was Saul the persecutor, than 
is that lukewarm generation of worldlings, who, either from 
drowsy indifference, or absorption in material interests, will 
never be at the pains of troubling the Church of Christ. 
In the burning zeal and thorough earnestness wherewith 
Saul consumed himself, as he "was breathing out threaten- 
ings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," (Acts 
ix. 1 ;) in the manly firmness wherewith he concentrated 
all upon this one thing, the extirpation of the followers of 



THE PEESECUTOR. , 31 

the Cross, as the arch-enemies to his arch-Judaism, there 
were mightily though mistakenly (" in unbelief ") at work 
those vigorous natural powers he bore along from his 
mother's womb, which, turned by grace into their right 
direction, (faith in Christ,) made him the u.nswerving sol- 
dier and herald of the Cross. Luther, in his naive manner, 
says, '' JSTow, when Saul took the matter so to heart, the 
Lord Jesus had His thoughts about it, and said to Himself, 
' Wait a little, that man wiU turn out weU ; for what he 
does, he does in right earnest. The fervour he now shews in 
a bad cause, 1 will still increase by my Spirit, and apply to 
a good cause. He shaU preach of me among the Gentiles, 
which shall stir up the Jews, as they deserve, to become 
quite mad and foolish, as he liimseK has hitherto been.' 
Just as our Lord God uses me now against the Pope and 
his band, for whom formerly I would have gone through 
the fire, and now none fights more bitterly against them." 
Not forgetting what once he w^as, Paul enters, with as 
much meekness as firmness, upon his new path full of 
thorns, where step by step, and on aU sides, he is met by 
the same pharisaic spirit of persecution he himself had 
heretofore displayed. View him at Jerusalem under the 
murderous blows of his blind countrymen, whose souls he 
is seeking to win in tenderest and devoted love. Hear 
him as, standing before an enraged multitude, (Acts xxi. 
35, &c.,) he wins their silence by his meek address, (Acts 
xxii. 1, &c.), " Men, brethren, and fathers/' and then con- 
tinues, " I was zealous towards God, as ye all are this day, 
and I persecuted this way unto the death." This meek- 
ness Paul learnt in the school of Christ's Spirit, who re- 
minded him of his own past life, of abounding sin, and of 
far more abounding grace. 

Saul's zeal grew rage, and this to slaughter led; 
Nor woidd aught give content to his fierce soul 



32 ST PAUL. 

But persecution to the very death. 

Till of that way he had destroy' d the whole. 

And this dread zeal was with religion pair'd : 

For thus he thought to serve his people's God. 

" In ignorance," as after he declared, 

" And unbelief/' he trod this fearful road. 

But Satan should not triumph over Saul ; 

For we shall witness next his heavenly call. 



THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS. 33 



IV. 
THE WON OF THE LOED JESUS. 

" Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."— Rom, v. 20. 

Ambrose calls the conversion of Paul the most glorious 
deed of Christ the King — next to the outpouring of the 
Holy Spirit. Glorious, indeed, in its fruit — the gathering 
of the Gentiles into the fold of Christ, through the gospel 
of His grace preached by this child of grace ; and glorious 
also in the sovereign power of Divine grace which wrought 
it, and became the inexhaustible theme of praise in the 
mouth of this won one of the Lord Jesus. 

How great Paul's conversion and call was in the eyes 
of St Luke, is clear from his thrice recounting its history 
with evident delight : once in the thread of his own narra- 
tive, where the patient sun, that has sent forth his first 
rays of the evangelical day over the Jewish nation, begins 
already to draw toward evening for that nation ; and twice 
in the great Apostle's defence of the Gospel at Jerusalem, 
where night is already fast closing in upon them, (Acts ix., 
xxii., xxvi.) Let us take a connected review of this three- 
fold account. 

' It was not, we may be sure, without heartfelt thanks to 
God for thus permitting him to do Him service, (Jolm xvi. 
2,) that Saul, furnished with commissions from the high 
priest, entered upon the honourable mission of the Jewish 
holy inquisition — to go abroad after Christ's disciples, hal- 

c 



34 ST PAUL. 

ing men and women, and bringing tliem bound unto Jeru- 
lem. But, lo ! as he sped on his way to Damascus, and 
drew nigh to the city, suddenly, about noon, there shined 
round about him a light from heaven, above the brightness 
of the sun. It was even the Lord Jesus Christ, the same 
whom Stephen saw in the opened heavens, standing on 
God's right hand, who now appeared to Saul, (1 Cor. ix. 
1, XV. 8,) -dazzling his eyes with the glorious light of His 
countenance. They also that were with him saw indeed the 
light, before which the noontide sun grew pale, but they 
saw no man; they heard the sound of a voice, '' but they 
heard not," St Paul says, '' the voice of Him that spake to 
me." " And when we were all fallen to the ground," he 
continues, " I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying 
in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou 
me ? " So, then. He whom Saul persecutes is throned in 
heaven; and Stephen spoke the truth; Saul is the man 
of death! and yet he lives; the glare of His heavenly 
majesty hath darted upon, but not slain him. "Why per- 
secutest thou me ? " In this appeal to Saul's heart, of 
Him who is glorious and terrible, is blended the voice of 
mercy. "What have I done unto thee, my people ? and 
wherein have I wearied thee ? testify against me," (Micah 
vi. 3.) Crushed by the overwhelming sense of his extreme 
guiltiness, Saul lay prostrate in the dust, yet upheld and 
drawn, at the same time, by the arms of that long-suffering 
mercy, which hereafter he knows so well to exhibit to his 
unhappy brethren according to the flesh, (Eom. x. 21.) 
The mystery of that grace which, without coercing, draws 
with irresistible force — which wins and conquers by no 
other weapons than those of tender intreaty and imploring 
love — now began to dawn upon Saul's mind, as he ven- 
tured to put the question, " Who art thou. Lord ? " That 
He who from heaven called him by name, and whose 



THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS. 35 

glory he saw, was the Lord, the living God, he was sure 
enough, and needed no further proof; but that it was He 
whom he had been persecuting, this thought seized him 
like a stroke of lightning, falling on him unawares, and 
penetrating to his very inmost soul. Him whose name he 
has cursed, and whom he has persecuted as a blasphemer, 
he now beholds in heavenly glory, yea, and hears Him 
pronounce His own name — '' I am Jesus whom thouper- 
secutest," — that name above every name, (Phil. ii. 10,) by 
which He is worshipped and adored, both in heaven and 
earth, as the Lord and Saviour of His believing people, 
" who, crucified tlirough weakness, liveth by the power of 
God," (2 Cor. xiii. 4,) and out of His own mouth (" Why 
persecutest thou meV) he now learns that "great mystery '* 
of the oneness of " Christ and the Church," (Eph. v. 32 ;) 
He the head, she the body, and believers on earth "mem- 
bers in particid.ar of the body of Christ," (1 Cor. xii. 27) — 
a favourite subject henceforth of the Apostle's teaching 
and devout adoration. How may the exalted Sa^viour have 
looked upon this fruit "of the travail of His soul;" the 
youth of His choice, whom He had "loved with an ever- 
lasting love," and was now drawing to Himself " with the 
cords of love ! " And Stephen, was he permitted, too, to 
look down upon this " strong one " whom Jesus took for 
His " spoil " that day ? More than the angels of God must 
he have rejoiced at this first-fruit of his martyrdom. But 
Satan must have beheld with rage and gnashing of teeth 
this victory of the Lord Jesus ; nor would he stand an idle 
beholder of the scene, but summon to his aid the art of 
hell, for in this one prey he would lose a thousand, yea, 
countless legions in the lapse of time. And Jesus, on His 
part, will not triumph over him by some enchantment, as 
it were, of Saul, stronger than Satan's ; but says to His 
won one, " It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." 



36 ST PAUL. 

Hard, yet not impossible. This Saul has clearly learnt, 
for he says, " I was not disobedient to the heavenly voice ; " 
which he might have been, had he not at once " brought 
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,"" 
(2 Cor. X. 5,) and resisted the serpent's subtle beguilement 
to '^corrupt his mind from the simplicity in Christ," (2 
Cor. xi. 3.) Against the pricks of Divine wrath Saul had 
hitherto kicked. Like as the ox kicks against the staff" of the 
driver, so Saul had been kicking against the deadly pricks 
of the law, which entered but the more deeply into his 
flesh the more he endeavoured to satisfy Divine justice 
by a self- acquired unblamable righteousness. But now the 
grace of the Lord Jesus would make it too hard for him 
any longer to continue this suicidal labour. The pricks of 
the avenger are broken in the flesh of Christ crucified, who 
in His own body upon the cross has ''slain the enmity 
thereby," (Eph. ii. 16.) So long as Saul persecuted Jesus 
he wanted to redeem his own soul, which costs too much, 
" so that he must let that alone for ever," (Ps. xlix. 8, 
Prayer Book transl.) But now it came to a happy crisis, 
a solution worth the whole world, (Matt. xvi. 26.) In the 
death of Christ there now appeared to him the end of the 
law warring against the sinner, and in His resurrection 
the entering in of that righteousness which both satisfies 
God and gives peace to the sinner that believeth in Christ, 
(Eom. iii. 26, iv. 25, v. 1 ; Eph. ii. 17.) But ere Paul 
could attain to the blessed experience of being " dead with 
Christ, and buried with Him in baptism," Said had first to 
taste that bitter dying described in Eom. vii. 9-11, ''And I 
died." Here, before the gates of Damascus — " smitten to 
the ground by the law," as Luther says — he felt its sharp- 
pointed arrow fasten deep into his heart ; he was accursed, 
and deserved to hang on that tree where Jesus his Saviour 
hung for him. Will he still kick against the pricks, now 



THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS. 37 

that lie has beheld the law which ''worketh wrath" in the 
light of overpowering grace ? ^o, it has become too hard 
for him. Trembling and astonished, but withal still bent 
upon penitential obedience, he cries out, "Lord, what wilt 
thou have me to do ? " In this hour of anguish, " as the 
terrors of God flashed through his soul,'' it would surely 
have been the greatest relief to him, had the Lord exacted 
of him a penitence and satisfaction ever so bitter and 
severe. In none of these, however, but solely in the aU- 
availing sacrifice and satisfaction made by Jesus Christ 
once for all upon the cross, could he find rest ; and he has 
found it. It was only by opening his sad heart to this 
same Jesus, that he felt his own sins also were atoned for 
and cancelled. With encouraging gentleness, the Lord then 
bids him '' rise and stand upon his feet;" but forthwith, to 
test his obedience. He adds : " And go into the city, and 
it shall be told thee what thou must do." In thus com- 
missioning him to apply for instruction to the believers at 
Damascus, those very people he had hitherto persecuted, 
the Lord greatly honoured His Church, and vindicated to 
her the high office and blessed privilege of dispensing to 
sinners the means of His grace. In the Church only would 
He be found of him with absolution to eternal peace.* 
And with such docility did Saul enter into this Divine 
order of grace, and so completely does Paul afterwards 
identify Christ and the Church, that in his speech before 
Agrippa he passes the mediating Ananias clean by, and 
affirms to have heard of Jesus what Ananias told him in 
His name.f 

On rising from the ground, Saul perceived that he was 

* Once for all, I here repeat — what impliedly I have averred in my pre- 
fatory remark on the subject — that T do not concur in the author's High 
Church views. — Tr. 

t Great nicety linked with ingenuity. — Tk. 



38 ST PAUL. 

blind. Hitherto he had said, " I see," (John ix. 41 ;) now 
he finds his spiritual blindness portrayed upon his bodily 
eyes, which are blinded by the glory of the heavenly vision. 
In this pitiable plight, yet resigned to Jesus's custody, he 
is led by the hands of his astounded companions, and 
brought into Damascus. The wolf is turned into a lamb. 
"And he was three days without sight, and neither did 
eat nor drink," — seeking and finding the more food for 
his hungry soul in the Word of God and the teaching of 
His Church ; yea, while his bodily eyes failed him, his 
inner eyes would open to the voice of the prophets, giving 
him answer to the Lord's question : " Saul, Saul, why 
persecutest thou me?" and in the penitential psalms he 
would find the fittest utterance for liis unutterable woe. 
*' We know that the law is spiritual ; but I am carnal, sold 
under sin," (Eom. vii. 14.) This knowledge of a contrite 
sinner was now beaming upon him in tlie light of that 
transcendent fact — that He who had hung upon the ac- 
cursed tree was now exalted to heavenly glory and Divine 
majesty. ISTow he had torn from his bleeding heart "what 
things were gain" to him, (Phil. iii. 7;) and, dying, waited 
for His help, who by His w^ord, '' I am Jesus !" had already 
breathed on him the Spirit of life. Saul spent three days 
of anguish in the deep ere he ascended to the height. 
'' Behold, he prayeth," said the Lord, by way of encourage- 
ment to Ananias, who still dreaded the man of slaughter. 
"Behold, he prayeth;" a precious word, as it proA^'es to us 
that the humble prayer of a contrite sinner goes direct to 
the heart of Jesus in heaven, who enlists for the penitent 
the sympathy of His believing children on earth, yea, and 
the service of His swift-flying angels in heaven, (Dan. ix. 
20-23.) The Lord answering Saul's prayer through the 
mouth of a " disciple " and fellow-sinner does not contra- 
dict Gal. i. 11, 12, where Paul declares that the Gospel he 



THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS. 39 

preached he had neither received of man, nor been taught 
it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. For the sub- 
stance of his preaching to others — viz., the Gospel of the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Clirist — was indeed communicated 
to him by the revelation of that same Jesus who appeared 
unto him from heaven ; but of his own pardon and accept- 
ance by Him through the same grace he was to receive the 
comforting assurance in no other way than every other 
sinner accepted by Christ — viz., through the ordinary means 
of grace — the Word and Sacrament. Also that he might 
receive again his sight and be filled Avith the Holy Ghost 
was Ananias sent to him from God. Yea,, so highly did 
the Lord honour His poor persecuted church at Damascus, 
that He announced to Ananias, when yet they were trem- 
bling at Saul's approach, the triumph of His grace over 
this persecutor of Himself in His people ; and upon Ana- 
nias still hesitating, alleging in child4ike simplicity the 
terror-stirring accounts they had heard of " this man,'' the 
Lord bids him '' Go thy way ; for he is a chosen vessel 
unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings 
and the children of Israel : For I will shew liim how great 
things he must suffer for my name's sake." Thus the Lord 
not only laid the new convert in the arms of the Church, 
but made over to her the ''chosen vessel" also. 

To extol Israel's glory in the sight of the heathen had 
been Saul's inmost desire ; and because he had taken the 
followers of Jesus to be the enemies to Israel's glory, 
therefore he had persecuted them. But, won himself of 
the Lord Jesus, out of the lost children of Israel, he was 
now to bear His name, as the banner of salvation, before 
the Gentiles and their kings ; and, by gathering them into 
" the Israel of God," he Avas to provoke fallen Israel to 
rise again, (Eom. xi. 11, &c.) That Christ's kingdom 
should be one of suffering and death had been his great 



40 ST PAUL. 

offence, because lie could not reconcile the Cross with the 
carnal thoughts of his Jewish prejudices. But now he 
goes to " confirm the souls of the disciples, exhorting 
them, that we must through much tribulation enter into 
the kingdom of God," (Acts xiv. 22 ;) yea, and as their 
ministering servant in Christ, himself goes to bear in his 
own flesh, and that with joy, of " the afflictions of Christ," 
which the church militant has to '' fill up " — that mea- 
sure of suffering meet for so great an apostle, (Col. i. 24.) 

Ere Ananias entered the house of Judas in the street 
called "Straight" at Damascus, and inquired for one called 
Saul of Tarsus, the Lord had already shewn to praying 
Saul in a vision this very man coming in and putting his 
hand on him. Thus his humbly-yielding soul was fully 
prepared for the visit, and longed for this messenger of his 
Saviour. ''Brother Saul," said Ananias, on entering and 
laying his hands on him, " the Lord, even Jesus that ap- 
peared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent 
me " (the good Shepherd hath found His sheep on the 
way, beside a yawning precipice) " that thou mightest re- 
ceive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost ;" with 
the recovery of thy bodily sight to receive enlightened 
eyes of the mind, that thou mayest know the blessed hope 
of the won and called of Jesus Christ. Then Saul, ''look- 
ing up upon him," heard this true Israelite further declare 
unto him, " The God of our fathers hath chosen thee " 
with an everlasting calling in Christ, " that thou shouldest 
know His will " of salvation, carried into effect from Abra- 
ham's call down to the raising up of the horn of salvation 
in the house of his servant David, (Acts xiii. 16, &c. ;) and 
see that *' Just One," who by His knowledge shall justify 
many, for He shall bear their iniquity, (Isa. liii. 11 ;) and 
shouldest hear the voice of His mouth for a testimony 
that Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God with 



thp: won of the lord jesus. 41 

power, (Eom. i. 4.) '' For tliou shalt be His witness unto 
all men of what thou hast seen and heard, and of those 
things in the which He will appear unto thee." 

Paul's apostolic witness is born out of Saul's inner his- 
tory ; it is altogether that of his personal experience of the 
grace of God in Christ Jesus his Lord. Bright, indeed, 
over his apostolical career do the stars shine whereby the 
Lord so wonderfully guided the footsteps of His chosen ser- 
vant from Jerusalem even unto Eome, (Acts xxii. 17; Gal. 
ii. 2 ; Acts xvi. 9, xviii. 9, 10, xxiii. 11, xxvii. 23, 24 ;) 
but brightest of all shines that '' star out of Jacob," which 
rose to him on his way to Damascus, illuminating the 
path of his life throughout the marvellous sphere of his 
labour of love, chastening his joys, and supporting him 
under all afflictions ; for this star had shined into his very 
heart, (2 Cor. iv. 6 ; Gal. i. 16.) With the testimony of 
the Lord Jesus, who had won him, and was " revealed in 
him,'' Paul went forth — being delivered from the People, 
who in him thrust from them their last saving-angel, and 
from all dangers among the Gentiles, unto whom the Lord 
now sent him — " to open their eyes, and to turn them 
from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan 
unto God, that they might receive forgiveness of sins, and 
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that 
is in Christ Jesus," (Acts xxvi. 18.) To this *' inherit- 
ance " Saul himself was now being admitted. '' And now, 
why tarriest thou?" said Ananias, (who saw him still 
kneel in rapt amazement before the opened door of hea- 
venly grace.) " Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy 
sins, calliiig on the name of the Lord." ''And imme- 
diately," Luke writes, "there fell from his eyes as it had 
been scales ; and he received sight forthwith, and arose 
and was baptized." With new eyes he now beheld the 
aged messenger of the Lord Jesus. So he had never be- 



42 ST PAUL. 

fore looked upon any of His disciples. Stephen's angel- 
face would again rise up before his soul, and make him 
exclaim, " 0, that I had known Thee sooner, fairest of the 
sons of men ! " Now was Saul planted in the likeness of 
Christ's death, being " buried with Him by baptism ; that, 
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of 
the Father, even so he also should walk in newness of life," 
(Eom. vi. 4 ;) and now, having received the spirit of adop- 
tion, he could with a reconciled conscience cry, " Abba, 
Father." There he stood now, the won of the Lord Jesus, 
clad in the garments of His salvation, and covered with 
the robe of righteousness, (Isa. Ixi. 10.) "And when he 
had received meat, he was strengthened." With wdiat 
feelings may Saul have sat down and partaken of this his 
first meal with Christ's disciples ! And if at the close of 
it they ate the passover of the New Testament, his heart 
would indeed be drawn to the True Passover — Christ slain 
for sinners, — and his overflowing adoration might find 
utterance in w^ords like these :: — 

" Hasten now, my soul, to meet Him, 
And with loving reverence greet Him, 
Who with words of life immortal 
Now is knocking at thy portal ; 
Haste to make for Him a way, 
Cast thee at His feet and say : 
Since, Lord, Thou com'st to me, 
I will never turn from Thee ! " 

There fell as it had been scales from Saul's eyes imme- 
diately as he received his sight. The " veil " was taken 
away as soon as his soul turned to the Lord, (2 Cor. iii. 16.) 
Now he understood Stephen's speech. God's plan of Is- 
rael's and the world's redemption, as traced by this faith- 
ful witness through the history of the Old Testament, now 
stood in heavenly brightness before his unveiled eyes, all 



THE WON OF THE LORD JESUS. 43 

illuminated by that one light — Christ crucified and risen 
again. 

At the head of this picture of Paul's conversion we 
have placed Eom. v. 20, " Where sin abounded, grace did 
much more abound;" and the way in which he was won to 
Christ has shewn us that the mystery of Christ, (Eph. iii. 
3, &c.,) which shines so bright through all his apostolical 
preaching, was intrusted to him as the mystery of his self- 
experienced grace in the forgiveness of his sins. His per- 
son and his work are in harmonious oneness, illuminated 
both by the same bright splendour of his heavenly calling. 
Abounding sin and superabounding grace, — these two 
poles of the Gospel of Christ, about which faith moves, — 
as they form the main traits of his own Christian character, 
so they constitute the main points of his apostolical teach- 
ing. We shall take occasion to speak of this in another 
chapter (Paul '' the man of faith.") In tlie next we have 
to accompany '' the labourer of the Lord " into the harvest 
of the Gentiles, and the last gathering in of the remnant 
among Israel. 

" To Jesus' love a stranger yet, 

Saul sped along the road, 
Intent to slay where'er he met 

Christ's harmless flock abroad.; 
When, lo ! from heav'n he heard a call, 

'Twas Jesus' voice, which said, 
Why persecutest thou me, Saul ? 

But rise ; for I have made 
A chosen vessel thee, to bear 

My name before the world ; 
And I will shew thee how to share 

The cross thou shalt unfold." 



44 ST PAUL. 



THE LABOUEER. 

" I laboured more abundantly than they all."— 1 Cor. xv. 10. 

We are not writing the history of Paul's life ; yet we must 
follow him on the way of his apostolical labour, in order 
to collect the traits of that picture which the Holy Ghost 
has presented to us in this man of God. " By the grace 
of God I am what I am," he says, in the same place, where 
he boldly speaks, " I laboured more abundantly than they 
all." In his apostolical labour his Christian character is 
reflected ; and in this view let us consider the work he 
accomplished. 

To be found " in labours " the Apostle reckons among 
those things in which the ministers of God approve them- 
selves, (2 Cor. vi. 4, 6 ;) and a diligent labourer indeed he 
was, " not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving 
the Lord," (Rom. xii. 11 ;) yea, life itself he was ever 
ready to sacrifice, and that joyfully, in the service of his 
Heavenly Master, (Phil. ii. 17 ;) nor was there anj^thing he 
was more afraid of than '' living unto himseK," and thus 
robbing God of His own property — both body and soul be- 
longing unto Him, (Rom. xiv. 7, 8 ; 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20 ; 2 
Cor. V. 15.) And it was Christ's constraining love, (2 Cor. 
V. 14,) this grand motive to all his actions, which in the 
face of " bonds and afflictions " made him declare to the 
elders of the Ephesian church, '' None of these things 



THE LABOUREK. 45 

move me, neither count 1 my life dear unto myself, so that 
I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which 
I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of 
the grace of God," (Acts xx. 24.) 

Yet '' day rises none the sooner because we rise before 
dawn." This Paul learned in the school of the Holy Ghost. 
" In quietness and confidence shall be your strength," (Isa. 
XXX. 15.) As the silent brook, which hides itself in a 
glen, is only gathering strength to pour forth more vigor- 
ously at large and swell to a mighty stream — so ran the 
course of our great Apostle's life. While resting certain 
days with the disciples at Damascus, he could not indeed 
refrain from testifying at once what he had heard and 
seen to the Jews in that city. Impelled by the ardour of 
his first love, and the clear conviction of his new heart, he 
straightway proved Christ in their synagogues, that He is 
the Son of God, (Acts ix. 20.) " Immediately," he says, 
(Gal. i. 16, 17,) " I conferred not with flesh and blood, nei- 
ther went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles 
before me," as if they had been more credible witnesses 
than Ananias, or as if my heavenly call needed their rati- 
fication. Still less did he think it his duty to the chief 
priests whose commission he had held, or to Gamaliel, 
his former teacher, that he should hear and weigh his and 
their arguments. But, great as was his ardour, his testi- 
mony had not the effect which — " coming fresh from the 
forge," as Luther says — he expected. For though he " con- 
founded the Jews," by proving that Jesus is the Christ, 
they were no less offended at his new doctrine than amazed 
at his sudden change. Then would come home to his 
heart what Stephen had said of Moses : '' For he supposed 
his brethren would have understood him, how that God by 
his hand would deliver them, but they understood not," 
(Acts vii. 25.) Paul, like Moses, was first to serve his 



46 ST PAUL. 

apprenticesliip in the wilderness. For a three years' still- 
ness the heavenly Master led His disciple into the deserts 
of Arabia, (Gal. i. 17,) whither he was followed by no 
Philip to interpret to him God's Word; bnt the Lord 
Jesus Himself was his teacher, as he studied the Scriptures 
and pondered over the kingdom of God ; and the glory in 
which he had beheld Him who was slain for sinners shed 
its heavenly light over his meditations, illuminating the 
pages of the prophets, and opening to his spiritual vieAV 
the progress of Christ's Church and kingdom on earth. If 
the ''visions and revelations of the Lord," (2 Cor. xii. 1,) 
which he kept above fourteen years to himself, (ib., ver. 2,) 
fell within the period of these three years, then were not 
only the three years' companionship of the disciples, but 
also the forty days that the Lord shewed HimseK alive 
unto them, amply compensated to him by his being ''caught 
up into paradise, and hearing unspeakable words," (ib., ver. 
4.) To make all flesh keep silence before Him, God has 
raised up and fitted for their high calling the greatest of 
His servants in retirement away from the world, — Moses in 
Midian, Elijah at the brook Cherith, Paul in Arabia. Nor, 
when he returned from this lengthened seclusion, had the 
moment arrived yet for Paul to enter upon his apostolical 
labour. Chosen and called as he was of Christ, yet would 
he not proclaim himself, but waited in patient modesty 
till, after proving before the first heathen congregation his 
heaven-wrought fitness for the work, the Holy Ghost, by 
the mouth of the Church, had confirmed the heavenly call 
of his Master, (Acts xiii. 2 ;) for he would have no man 
think of him above that which he saw him to be, or heard 
of him, (2 Cor. xii. 6.) He loathed all " commending of 
himself," well knowing that only he is approved " whom 
the Lord commendeth," (2 Cor. x. 18.) From Arabia he 
returned again unto Damascus, (Gal. i. 17,) where "the 



THE LABOURER. 47 

Jews took counsel to kill him ; " and, assisted by the Ara- 
bian governor's garrison, "watched the gates day and 
night," desirous to apprehend him. ''But their lying in 
wait being known of Saul," this " man in Christ," " caught 
up to the third heaven," even ''into paradise," was yet 
so sober, and so well prepared for the suffering state of 
Christ's Church on earth, that he allowed the disciples to 
take him by night, and let him down by the wall in a bas- 
ket, in order to escape the hands of his pursuers, (Acts ix. 
23-25 ; 2 Cor. xi. 32, 33.) It is for the seeming weakness 
of this basket-flight, that, at the -close of that long regis- 
ter of his sufferings detailed in the last-named chapter, 
(2 Cor. xi.,) the Apostle adduces this circumstance as a 
proof that " if he must needs glory, he will glory of the 
things which concern his infirmity." Now he went up to 
Jerusalem, which he had not seen again since his conversion. 
As a persecutor he had left it, as a fugitive he re-entered it. 
How might he feel as he set his feet within the gates of 
that beloved city ! Yet differently from what his love 
expected was he received by the Christian congregation. 
There was no Ananias prepared by a heavenly vision to 
meet him, and welcome his arrival; yea, rather, as "he 
assayed to join himself to the disciples, they were all afraid 
of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Bar- 
nabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and de- 
clared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, 
and that He had spoken to him," (Acts ix. 26, 27.) 
When a Pharisee, Saul had been distinguished as a man of 
consequence among the people ; now Paul, when won by 
Jesus, bore it meekly to have his character shielded by the 
testimony of Barnabas. With Peter indeed he abode 
fifteen days, but others of the apostles saw he none, save 
James the Lord's brother, (Gal. i. 18, 19 ;) nor was it till 
" fourteen years after," when he went up to Jerusalem "by 



'48 ST PAUL. 

revelation/' (Gal. ii. 1, 2,) tliat he was formally recognised 
as an apostle, and, together with Barnabas, " received the 
right hands of fellowship," (ib., ver. 9 ;) '' that we should 
go," he there adds, " unto the heathen, and they unto the 
circumcision.' Thus his heavenly commission was rati- 
fied on earth. But what it cost him to give up his fa- 
vourite wish — to become the herald of salvation to his own 
brethren after the flesh — may be judged from the circum- 
stance that the Lord again appeared unto him especially 
for this purpose, in the Temple of Jerusalem, saying unto 
him, "Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem; 
for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me;" 
and, upon Paul's reference to his former conduct, as a well- 
meant apology for their rejection of his testimony, the 
Lord still more categorically repeated His charge : " De- 
part, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles," 
(Acts xxii. 17-21.) 

In Tarsus, his native city, Saul was still waiting his 
Master's pleasure, as to whither He would have him go, 
till Barnabas sought for him there, and finding him, 
brought him to Antioch, (Acts xi. 25, 26.) Thus he did 
not take his apostleship as a robbery. At Antioch they 
laboured " a whole year " in the church that had been ga- 
thered there by " men of Cyprus and Cyrene," whom " the 
persecution that arose about Stephen " had scattered thi- 
ther, and abroad into other heathen lands, (Acts xi.) Here, 
under the deepest sense of God's goodness and severity to 
bring salvation unto the Gentiles through the fall of the 
Jews, (Eom. xi. 11,) the Apostle's call to labour among the 
former virtually began. But immediately also an occasion 
offered for his helping hand unto those of the circumcision. 
A ''great dearth" happening "in the days of Claudius 
Caesar," the disciples of Antioch sent relief unto the breth- 
ren which dwelt in Judea by the hands of Barnabas and 



THE LABOURER. 49 

Saul, (ib.,) in proof of the close communion existing be- 
tween tlie two churches, and to provoke to jealousy the 
unbelieving Jews. The church at Jerusalem, indeed, was 
scattered abroad more and more. Upon James's mart}T?- 
dom and Peter's miraculous escape from prison, (Acts xii.,) 
the latter also '' departed, and went into another place," 
(ib. ver. 17.) 

JSTow, when Barnabas and Saul were deputed by the 
church at Antioch, under direction of the Holy Ghost, to 
the ministry of the Gospel among the Gentiles, (Acts 
xiii. 1-3,) their course was guided partly by Barnabas's 
attractions to his native country, Cyprus, (ib. ver. 4,) but 
chiefly by Paul's apostolic maxim, to preach the Gospel 
where Christ had not been named, lest he should build 
upon another man's foundation, (Eom. xv. 20; 2 Cor. x. 
16.) At Salamis, the capital of Cyprus, we see the true 
Israelite meet in combat with false Judaism about the 
Eoman deputy's soul ; and here, with Elymas the sorcerer, 
Saul maintained his first open contest with ''the rulers 
of the darkness of this world," (Eph. vi. 12.) In many 
incidents of his life the Apostle seems sensible of personal 
powers of darkness withstanding his labour of light and 
love, were it only a casual hindrance in the way of paying 
a ministerial visit, (1 Thess. ii. 18.) While he knows 
Christ, and is known of Him, he is not ignorant of Satan's 
devices, (2 Cor. ii. 11.) Having rescued the deputy's soul 
out of the net of Elymas, — that " sorcerer " and " child of 
the devil," — St Luke, as if in honour of this first prize won 
by him for Christ in the person of Sergius Paulus, changes 
Saul's name into that of Paul, (Acts xiii. 9,) and gives him 
precedence henceforth over Barnabas. It is not unlikely, 
though, that already, on occasion of his baptism, the 
Apostle, prompted by Christian humility, may have de- 
sired this change in hi^ name ; for Paul means " little," 

D 



50 ST PAUL. 

while Saul means " asked," '' desired." His parents, per- 
haps, had long prayed for him ; and, lo ! like the ill-asked 
king of old, their son also became a persecutor of God's 
beloved. But now, as Paul the little, or ''less than the 
least," he would lay all Saul's greatness and gain at the 
King of Israel's feet, and say with David, "Thou hast given 
me the defence of thy salvation ; thy right hand also shall 
hold me up, and thy loving correction shall make me 
great," (Ps. xviii. 35.) 

Eeaching next to Antioch in Pisidia, they " went into 
the synagogue on the Sabbath-day, and sat down." From 
first to last the Apostle of the Gentiles yields to the 
Jews in their dispersion the place he assigns them in that 
cardinal passage, " To the Jew first," (Eom. i. 16.) The 
sermon he now preaches in their synagogue is a striking 
evidence of the deep impression Stephen's speech had 
made on his mind, for his own is almost the exact coun- 
terpart of it, (Acts xiii. 16-41.) He lit up the lamp of 
Israel by tracing the prophetic word to its accomplishment 
in Christ, whose inestimable value to their souls he 
summed up in ver. 38, 39. The effect was considerable, 
(ver. 42, 43.) But, lo ! on the very next Sabbath the Jews 
were filled with envy against the Gentiles, (ver. 45.) Then, 
upon their ''contradicting and blaspheming," "Paul and 
Barnabas waxed bold, and said. It was necessary that the 
word of God should first have been spoken to you : but 
seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy 
of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles : for so hath 
the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be 
a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salva- 
tion unto the ends of the earth," (ib. ver. 46, 47 ; Isa. xlix. 
6.) Thus early had the Apostle to experience that his 
labour of joy among the Gentiles — for " they glorified the 
word of the Lord," which was published throughout all 



THE LABOURER. 51 

the region — was to him likewise a labour of sorrow ; inas- 
much as the Lord accomplished His judgment upon the 
'' despisers," (ver. 41,) declared by His prophets, (Isa. 
xxix. 14 ; Hab. i. 5,) through the preaching of Paul, who 
trod in their footsteps. And if ever his hope had been 
sanguine enough to expect that whole cities and provinces 
would, upon his preaching of Christ, turn to the Lord, his 
experience in Pisidia already would have taught him 
otherwise. Yet '' as many," St Luke writes, (ver. 48,) " as 
were ordained to eternal life believed." Only those who 
by grace were led to believe in Christ accepted the call of 
God's everlasting purpose of love in Him, and their names 
were written in the book of life ; w^hile the disobedient and 
unbelieving, both among the Jews and Gentiles, — in hard- 
ening their hearts against God's call, and so thrusting sal- 
vation from them, — cannot escape the judicial vengeance 
wherewith God will visit them that do despite unto the 
Spirit of grace by rejecting His proffered mercy in the 
blood of His Son, when and wherever He causes His gospel 
to be preached. What the Apostle writes in the first 
three chapters of the Eomans he amply experienced in 
the course of his apostolical labour. The preaching of 
God's Word was no sham-fight with him, penetrated as he 
was by the conviction, that whether it be to life or to 
death, " God always causeth the heralds of His salvation 
to triumph in Christ," (2 Cor. ii. 14, &c.) And that he 
knew the import of the curse over a city which rejects the 
message of peace, he shews by following Christ's command, 
(Matt. X. 14,) in shaking off the dust of his feet against them 
at Antioch who would rather allow themselves to be led 
away by the false Jews to persecution than by the true 
Israelite to the following of Jesus, (Acts xiii. 50, 51.) 

Lamenting over the obdurate hardness and sad fate of his 
nation, who w^ere " filling up their sins alway," and draw- 



52 ST PAUL. 

ing God's " wrath upon them to the utterinost/' by hin- 
dering the Gentiles to be saved, (1 Thess. ii. 16,) Paul pro- 
ceeded with Barnabas to Iconium, where, alas 1 they met 
with still greater opposition. Here again they entered the 
synagogue, and " so spake, that a great multitude both of 
the Jews and also of the Greeks believed ; " and " the Lord 
gave testimony unto the word of His grace by granting 
signs and wonders to be done by their hands." But here 
also "the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles," and 
when there was an assault made upon them by both, they 
fled — not back, 'however, but forward into the Lycaonian 
cities, preaching the same Gospel, which everywhere causes 
so wholesome a stir, (Acts xiv. 1-7.) At Lystra we find the 
Apostle growing like a palm under her lofty load. A mir- 
acle, wrought after the manner of Peter's at the temple 
gate, hurried away the populace to the enthusiastic excla- 
mation, " The gods are come down to us in the likeness of 
men;" and the crafty town-priest of Jupiter, seeing his 
consequence at stake, quickly " brought oxen and garlands 
unto the gate," to do them homage by a sacrifice. " Chafed 
at such dignity right sore," the two "mortal men," who of 
themselves would be no better than the meanest of the 
blind heathen, ''ran in among the people," and Paul seized 
upon their hearts with all the power of his soul- winning 
love and heavenly wisdom. He feels himself standing on 
a cross-way of time. The living God, who made heaven 
and earth, hath in times past suffered all Gentile nations 
to walk in their own ways ; yet of His being their God 
also, (Eom. iii. 29,) He hath not left Himself without wit- 
ness ; and the Lycaonians, whose fruitful fields were the 
granaries of Asia Minor, heard this day proclaimed before 
their delighted ears the name of the true God, as their 
heavenly E"ourisher and the Filler of their " hearts with food 
and gladness." " And with these sayings scarce restrained 



THE LABOUEEE. 53 

they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto 
them." Nevertheless, here also they were not '' delivered 
from unreasonable and wicked men : for all men have not 
faith/' (2 Thess. iii. 2 ;) and after a while Paul lay bruised 
and smarting under the stones of the Jews, who came 
thither from Antioch and Iconium to destroy the work of 
God ; and the Lycaonians had no further fancy for the 
two " mortal men," who, though healing their impotent 
cripple, could not shield themselves from the stones of the 
Jews. Howbeit, some of the new disciples — Timothy was 
probably one of them, (Acts xvi. 1) — surmounted the 
blow ; for not in Paul, but in Jesus they believed. And 
as these stood round about Paul, " supposing he had been 
dead," this servant of the most high God, chafed at oxen and 
garlands, but bearing stones patiently, rose up and re- 
turned undaunted into the city, (Acts xiv. 8-20.) 

N"ext day they came to Derbe, and having preached the 
Gospel to that city also, and taught many, they retraced 
their way, content for the present with the gospel breast- 
work they had reared in the four cities, Antioch, Iconium, 
Lystra, and Derbe, and "confirming," as they repassed 
them, " the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to con- 
tinue in the faith, and that we" — i.e., all who with Paul live 
a life of faith in Jesus — '' must through much tribulation 
enter into the kingdom of God." Far from being discou- 
raged at the ill success of this first missionary tour, the 
Apostle would anticipate with fondest hope a bright har- 
vest from the many tender " blades " springing here and 
there over all the ground they had trod. To consolidate 
their work, and commit the newly-gathered disciples to 
the care of the Lord, they ordained them elders in every 
church, and returned by way of Perga and Attalia to 
Antioch, "whence they had been recommended to the grace 
of God for the work which they fulfilled;" and having 



54 ST PAUL. 

gathered the Church together, they rehearsed all that God* 
had done with them, and how He had opened the door of 
faith unto the Gentiles, (Acts xiv. 21-27.) Thus the Apostle 
laid all honour humbly at the Lord's feet in His Church, — 
the keeper of His counsel and dispenser of His grace by 
the Holy Ghost, — forming, at the same time, a bond of 
union between the mother Church and her newly-born 
daughters. 

A twofold danger, which now began to threaten the 
young churches gathered from amongst Jews and Gentiles, 
— ^by either the former narrowing the door of faith, or the 
latter widening that of Christian life, — was averted by the 
apostolical synod at Jerusalem, under the guidance of the 
Holy Ghost. Being chosen with Barnabas to represent 
the Antiochian church there, Paul, for the sake of peace, 
willingly bore the appearance of dependence upon those 
"who seemed to be pillars," (Gal. ii. 9,) a proof of self- 
denial for which the Lord strengthened him by a special 
revelation, (ib. ver. 2.) But the viewing of Paul's char- 
acter in the light of the Jerusalem synod, we reserve for 
the closing chapter of this sketch. 

Before setting out on his second missionary tour, Paul 
parted from Barnabas. In their contention about Mark, 
the old Saul seems to have had his share. But the Lord 
covered the fault of His faithful servant, and knew how to 
convert it into good. In full independence he now entered 
upon his high work, choosing Silas for his companion, one 
of those deputed by the Jerusalem synod to Antioch, whose 
blessed footsteps proved that Paul had chosen the right 
man, (Acts xv. 36-40.) Besides him, he also chose Timothy, 
whom he found at Lystra, grown, since his first visit, into 
good report among the brethren there. In this youth, 
whom he took to his heart with tender love, he won his 
most faithful companion, whose unselfish mind resembled 



THE LABOUEER. 55 

liis own in entire devotion to the work of the Lord, 
(Phil. ii. 20.) A bosom friend he proved to him, such as 
Paul Gerhard prayed for, when he sang, " According to 
thy will give me a friend, in whose fidelity my heart may 
find repose." Prom the very first St Paul evinces a con- 
fidence in his genuine faith, which is most creditable to 
Timothy. Wliile he would not circumcise Titus, because 
of false brethren, (G-al. ii. 3, 4,) he circumcised Timothy in 
forbearance with the weakness of the Jews, (Acts xvi. 3 ;) 
and he felt able to do so, because he knew him to be so 
freed by faith from subjection to ordinances, that without 
danger to his Christ-betrothed soul, Timothy, for the sake 
of others, could waive in this instance his liberty in Christ. 
This virtue of acting under all circumstances as "the Lord's 
freeman," (1 Cor. vii. 22,) was most prominent in Paul 
himself, as hereafter we shall have occasion to see. A third 
coadjutor in the Apostle's work, whom the Lord had 
designed to become the interpreter of the history himself 
henceforth witnessed, was St Luke the Evangelist, who, 
without noticing his name, modestly intimates his com- 
panionship of the Apostle by speaking, from Acts xvi. 10, 
onward, in the first person.* Cf. Acts xvi. 1-3. 

The wings of the dove had waxed strong for a flight 
abroad, and being " forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach 
the word in Asia," St Paul pressed forward to the West. 
Close before the door of Europe — at Troas — there appeared 
to him an angel, in the form of ''a man of Macedonia," 
whose cry for help gave expression to the mute misery of 
the heathen there. Manned with such helpful hands, the 
ship soon gained the Macedonian harbour, Neapolis, whence 
at once they proceeded to the principal free city, Philippi, 

* Except from the Apostle's departure from Philippi, (Acts xvi. 40,) to 
his return to it, (Acts xx. 6,) a space of about half a dozen years, during 
which time Luke seems to have remained in that city, — Tb. 



56 ST PAUL. 

where Imperial Eome held her sway, and was now for the 
first time* ominously met by the heralds of a mightier 
kingdom, that of Christ. With Lydia, whose heart the 
Lord opened, and with her household, the first Christian 
church in Europe began. But ''the strong man armed," 
seeing ''his palace" beset, and his peace disturbed, stirred 
up the greedy masters of " a certain damsel possessed with 
the spirit of divination," and they accused the apostles 
before the magistrates, as troublers of their city and teach- 
ers of anti-Eoman customs ; whereupon they were beaten 
and cast into prison. There, with "their feet made fast in 
the stocks," Paul and Silas prayed and sang midnight 
praises unto God, rejoicing in their tribulation for Christ's 
sake. And the Lord gave His echo to their prayer in a 
great earthquake shaking the foundations of the prison; 
" and immediately all the doors were opened, and eyerj 
one's bands were loosed." But the salvation of one soul — 
that of the terror-stricken jailer — far outweighed, in Paul's 
estimation, their own stocks and bands ; and a second 
family was won that night to the faith of the Lord Jesus. 
" Thou shalt be saved, and thy house," said the Apostle, not 
sparing the health-giving water of the "fountain opened" 
in Christ " for sin and for uncleanness," (Zech. xiii. 1.) 
The manner of their release from prison shews us a trait 
of that wisdom which Paul knew how to use for the benefit 
of the Church of Christ. The magistrates, apprehensive of 
having acted illegally in their imprisonment, now wished 
to push them off quietly. Against this Paul entered his 
protest, and his appeal for justice to the privilege of a 
Eoman citizen (civis Romanics sum) brought the perplexed 
city praetors themselves to the prison, beseeching the apos- 
tles themselves to come out and leave the city. " All things 

* At least in Europe. — Tr. 



THE LABOURER. 57 

are yours/' (1 Cor. iii. 22,) even citizeuships and privileges 
in this world ; which in this instance served the cause of 
the Church's temporal well-being at Philippi. Singing 
praises in bands and the stocks, from whicli a miraculous 
earthquake set them free, Paul was yet sober enough to 
claim the rightful protection of legal authority ; and what 
here he did is but the prelude of the practical comment 
which his life, down to his appeal to Csesar, furnishes to 
his own teaching of the blessings of civil authorities, as 
''the powers ordained of God," (Eom. xiii. 1-6.) C£ Acts 
xvi. 6, &c. 

At Thessalonica, the capital of Macedonia, ''a great 
multitude of devout Greeks, and of the chief women not a 
few, consorted with Paul and Silas;" not, however, without 
again provoking the envy of the Jews, who here had their 
principal synagogue; and by stirring up "certain lewd 
fellows of the baser sort," who "set all the city in an 
uproar," they caused the apostles to be sent away by night. 
As those of Jerusalem had accused Jesus, so these accused 
His servants, of opposition to Caesar. But He who gave 
Pilate power that the Shepherd should be smitten instead of 
the sheep, here inclined the rulers of the city to " let these 
go." Thus Paul and Silas escaped from the house of Jason 
unto Berea. But how does the Aj)ostle leave his new-born 
children at Thessalonica? Though not without anxiety, 
for the tempter lay at their door, (1 Thess. iii. 5,) yet with 
a gladness at their already proved patience in suffering, 
which makes him exclaim, "Ye are our glory and joy," 
(1 Thess. ii. 14-20.) Prom Acts xvii. 10, it would appear 
that Paul left Timothy for a while at Thessalonica. At 
Berea the Lord refreshed the soul of His hard-toiling 
labourer; for here the Jews "were more noble than those 
at Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all 
readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, 



58 ST PAUL. 

whether those things were so." Yet not long was he to 
enjoy this rare delight in his own people. Indeed, enjoying 
— even in this noblest sense — was, throughout, less the 
motto of his life than self-denying toil. The Jews from 
Thessalonica came thither also, and stirred up the people 
against the word "preached of Paul," who, much as it 
went against his undaunted nature to flee, yet, since this 
served to bring fruit unto the Lord, went '' as it were to 
the sea," and came to Athens, leaving Silas and Timothy 
(who had meanwhile come from Thessalonica) still at Berea. 
Cf. Acts xvii. 1-15. 

While waiting here for his companions, Paul passed 
lonely through the world-famed city of wisdom, " the Altar 
of the Greeks and their Guildhall, and of all Arts and 
Sciences the Cradle." Not insensible to the Athenians' 
taste for the beautiful, so profusely displayed in the sculp- 
tured representations of their deities, yet his " spirit was 
stirred" in him when he saw the city wholly given to 
idolatry. Poignant woe over the glittering wretchedness 
of the ignorant and yet wisdom-proud Greeks, and holy 
zeal against him, who had guided with seductive hand 
their chisel in the masterpieces of human art, moved the 
Apostle's soul. But that " the spirits of the prophets are 
subject to the prophets," (1 Cor. xiv. 32,) he signally evinced 
here. Unprovoked by the loose talk of the Epicureans 
and the supercilious mockery of the Stoics, he allowed 
himself to be led to the Areopagus; whence, surveying 
the town with all its splendid symbols of idolatrous wor- 
ship, he would grieve in his mind over " the truth of God 
being changed into a lie, and the creature worshipped and 
served more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever," 
(Kom. i. 25.) He gladly bore to be looked upon by the 
curious Athenians as " a setter forth of strange gods," and 
with the quick eye of love, which made him " aU things to 



THE LABOURER. 59 

all men," (1 Cor. ix. 22,) he looked about him for a way of 
access to the hearts of a people, to whom " Christ crucified" 
was ''foolishness," (1 Cor. i. 23.) All excitement of feel- 
ing he knew how to subject to his will in the Lord; every 
word is well weighed in the balance of love, and adapted 
to the state of his hearers. He takes his starting point 
from an inscription he had read on one of their altars : 
*' To the unknown God." Fain to discover in this confes- 
sion of their ignorance an unstilled sigh after truth, he 
declares to them that God whom they ignorantly worship, 
as the Lord of heaven and earth, who is throned in bhssful 
independence, — needeth nothing of men, but giveth them 
all things, and so directeth all their ways, by demonstra- 
tions both of His wrath and mercy, as to lead them to seek 
Him, ''if haply they might feel after Him and find Him" 
to be their Creator and kind Preserver, — who, instead of 
rejecting and destroying man's corrupt nature, has reserved 
it to verify the saying of their poets, "we are His offspring," 
but in a higher sense than theirs — viz., in the Christian 
sentiments of those who shall have found God, not in the 
likeness of any phantom of the human imagination, but in 
that one man whom He hath ordained to judge the world, 
even in the man Christ Jesus. To Him the Apostle knows 
finally how to direct the hearts of the Athenians, that now, 
after God hath "winked at the time of their ignorance," 
they may repent, in order to escape the already appointed 
day of judgment; on which He whom God hath raised 
from the dead, and whom Paul now preaches to them, " wiU 
judge the world in righteousness." Thus the Apostle spake 
at Athens, but the seed, alas ! fell mostly on hard-trodden 
ground "by the wayside." With mockery over the resur- 
rection of the dead on the one side, and on the other with 
civil promises to hear more of it another time, tlie irksome 
preacher was got rid of — unmolested, but unsought. " Not 



60 ST PAUL. 

many wise men," (1 Cor. i. 26 ;) howbeit a few " clave unto 
him, and believed;" and Paul deemed not his strength 
spent in vain, but rather as amply repaid, in the salvation 
of a noted ''Dionysius," a less noted "Damaris," "and 
others with them." Cf. Acts xvii. 16-34. 

]N'evertheless, Paul quitted Athens in great heaviness. 
We should certainly form a very untrue picture of this 
holy labourer of Christ, were we to impute to him a stoical 
equanimity. Hot ran the blood in- his veins. He was 
ardent both in his love and grief. On his arrival at Corinth 
from Athens he was ''in weakness, and in fear, and in 
much trembling," (1 Cor. ii. 3.) His indifferent reception 
at Athens augured but ill for him in voluptuous Corinth, 
v/here Grecian philosophy vied with Eoman greatness, 
where lewdness, shameless and refined, abounded, with 
maromon, luxury, and fashion. Here he entirely abstained 
from meeting, as he had done at Athens, the " wise" Greeks 
with the weapons of their own human wisdom ; but know- 
ing ''the foolishness of God to be wiser than men," and 
content to win but those whom God hath chosen, — the base 
and despised of the world, (1 Cor. i. 25-29,) — he "deter- 
mined not to know anything among them, save Jesus 
Christ and Him crucified," (1 Cor. ii. 2.) Being received 
by Aquila and Priscilla, Jewish exiles from Eome, he 
wrought with them as tentmaker, only attending and rea- 
soning with Jews and Greeks in the synagogue every 
Sabbath. On the arrival, however, of Silas and Timothy 
from Macedonia, "Paul was pressed in the spirit, and 
testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ," having been 
greatly refreshed by the news which Timothy — whom he 
had sent back from Athens to Thessalonica — brought him 
from the congregation there, (cf. 1 Thess. iii.) "Tor now," 
he writes, (ver. 8,) in this very first of his apostolical epis- 
tles, — bequeathing to the Church of all times his apostolical 



THE LABOUEER. 61 

labour, — now ^' we live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." What 
importance he attaches to this branch of his apostolic 
office, — the Epistles, — we see from his solemn admonition 
at the close of this : '' I charge you by the Lord that this 
epistle be read unto all the holy brethren," (chap. v. 27, cf., 
in the second epistle, written shortly after, chap. ii. 15.) 
From the opposing and blaspheming Jews Paul turned, "free 
from their blood," unto the Gentiles, and had the pleasure 
to be followed by Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, 
whom he baptized with his own hand, (1 Cor. i. 14,) into 
the house of the God-fearing Gentile Justus, where the 
rising Christian church assembled, to the ministry of 
which Stephanas devoted himself, who, with his house, 
became '^ the first-fruits of Achaia," (1 Cor. xvi. 15.) 
Apprehensive of his speedy expulsion from them, the 
Apostle might naturally tremble for his little flock of saints 
in a city intoxicated with worldly pleasures, when the Lord 
strengthened him by a vision, shewing him ''the measure" 
of His rule, a measure to reach even unto Corinth, (2 Cor. 
X. 13,) and bidding him to " speak, and not hold his peace; 
for that no man should hurt him, and that He had much 
people in this city." How, thereupon, he continued his 
ministry, teaching the word of God among them, is seen 
by a glance at his Epistles to the Corinthians. " I have 
fed you with milk," he says, " and not with meat ; for 
hitherto ye were not able to bear it," (1 Cor. iii. 2 ;) yet by 
this milk of the Gospel they not only were saved, if they 
believed in Christ dying for our sins and rising again 
according to the Scriptures, (1 Cor. xv. 1-4,) but were 
likewise " enriched in everything by Christ, in all utter- 
ance and in all knowledge," (1 Cor. i. 5.) Not seeking his 
own profit, but that of many, that they may be saved 
(1 Cor. X. 33,) was the Apostle's rule of life, and the testi- 
mony of his conscience everywhere, but " more abun- 



62 ST PAUL. 

dantly," lie says, ''to you- ward/' (2 Cor. i. 12,) who "are 
in our hearts to live and die with you/' (2 Cor. vii. 3.) 
"I have espoused you to one husband/' he declares in 
another place, " that I may present you as a chaste virgin 
to Christ," (2 Cor. xi. 2 ;) and, lo ! the Church of God at 
Corinth became a focus for the saints in all Achaia, (2 Cor. 
i. 1,) the seal of Paul's apostleship in the Lord, (1 Cor. 
ix. 2,) "the epistle of Christ," written in his heart, not 
with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, and known 
and read of all men, (2 Cor. iii. 2, 3.) This epistle the 
unbelieving Jews at Corinth could also read, either as a 
bill of indictment against, or a '' still small voice" for them. 
But they sought to convert Gallic, the deputy of Achaia, 
into a Pilate. However, Gallic would have nothing to do 
with their " question of words," and drove them from his 
judgment-seat. Thus, under the protection of a heathen 
magistrate, who — "caring for none of those things" — was 
simply guided by a sense of legal right, Paul was enabled, 
" as a wise master-builder/' to lay the foundation, (1 Cor. 
iii. 10,) and to plant what afterwards was to be watered by 
ApoUos, (ib. ver. 6,) whose peculiar talents for the work 
the Apostle appreciates with unenvious satisfaction. Cf. 
Acts xviii. 1-17. 

Ere we follow the Apostle to Ephesus, we must view him 
yet on leaving Corinth. As he embarked at Cenchrea, 
''he shaved his head; for he had a vow," (Acts xviii. 18.) 
Thus "the Lord's freeman" would willingly put himself 
under the restraint of a vow, till his work at Corinth should 
be completed ; for till then he had doubtless vowed to the 
Lord, that he would let his hair grow,* (Numb. vi. 5.) 

* I have heard of a pious youth forcing himself to a lengthened seclu- 
sion from the world by a vow, that he would not have his hair cut till he 
should have studied through the whole Bible in the original ; and it was 
said he kept the vow. — Tr. 



THE LABOURER. 63 

Behold this evangelical ^N'azarite ! What in Acts xxi. 24 
he submitted to for the Jews' sake, he did of free choice at 
Corinth, for liis own and his work's sake. The symbol of 
a man's honour (1 Cor. xi. 3-15) he laid at the Lord's feet, 
to have this mark of a Nazarite always remind him of his 
utter dependence on God's all-sufficient power to make him 
an able minister of the New Testament, for his work here 
at Corinth, (2 Cor. iii. 5, 6.) Thus the Apostle knew how 
to breathe a spirit of life derived from Christ into the 
''beggarly elements" of the laAv; not he served them, but 
they him, unto Apostolic power in Pauline weakness. 

At Ephesus, the capital of Grecian Asia Minor, the 
Apostle left Priscilla and Aquila, — no mean gift, for they 
became his fellow-helpers hi Christ Jesus," (Eom. xvi. 3,) — 
while himself hasted thence to Jerusalem to convey to the 
mother Church the salutations of her many children, as 
the best Pentecostal offering for the ensuing feast. A beau- 
tiful Christian realisation this of the prophetic signs given 
on the day of Pentecost. For the " house of prayer for all 
people," (Isa. Ivi. 7,) whose empty form remained yet but a 
while on Mount Zion, was now growing up apace — a new 
spiritual house — under the blessed hands of the apostolic 
master-builder, (Acts xviii., xix., &c.) 

" If God will," was Paul's modest reply to the Jews at 
Ephesus, who for once ''desired him to tarry," — "if God 
will, I will return again unto you ;" and God willed it. At 
Antioch, whither now for the last time he returned, he met 
with Peter,* whom he openly blamed for dissembling with 
the Jews, (Gal. ii. 11, &c., cf. vi. 1.) Travelling through 
Galatia and Phrygia " in order," and " strengthening," as 
he passed along, "all the disciples," who ever and anon 

* This meeting-, it would seem, from Barnabas being mentioned in 
connexion with it, (Gal. ii. 13,) took place during a former stay of Paul and 
Barnabas together at Antioch, (Acts xv. 35.) — Tb. 



64 ST PAUL. 

were troubled by legal Judaizers, the Apostle again reached 
Epbesus, wMch was destined to become the golden link 
between the churches of the East and West. Twelve Pen- 
tecostal sheaves (Acts xix. 1-7) he was permitted here to 
glean for the Holy Ghost ; and when constrained by divers 
hardened and unbelieving Jews to leave their synagogue, 
(" Behold your house is left unto you desolate/' Luke xiii. 
35,) he preached the Gospel for two years in the learned 
school of Tyrannus, whither both Jews and Greeks from 
far and near resorted, (Eph. ii. 11, &c. ;) ''so that all they 
which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus," 
and Ephesus became a mother church to those at Colosse, 
Laodicea, and Hierapolis. Thus the Apostle had planted 
twelve churches, when — standing upon the meridian of his 
missionary career — he said, " I must also see Eome." 
Ephesus was a mart for magic, and God, through the work 
of His servant, and through the ''special miracles" He 
wrought by his hands, held judgment over the gods of 
Greece, causing many of the believers, who hitherto liad 
" used curious arts," at once so thoroughly to purge their 
dwellings of them, that they brought together their books 
of sorcery, to the amount of "50,000 pieces of silver," 
(about £2000, at which they had bought them,) "and 
burned them before all men." After what manner the 
Apostle spent the "two years" among them, is shewn by 
his valedictory address to their elders, (Acts xx. 18-35.) 
Twice he reminds them of his tears in seeking to win every 
one's soul. He indeed, says Chrysostom, "watered with 
his tears the seed he sowed," and therefore also "he came 
again with joy, and brought his sheaves with him." Man- 
liness was a fundamental feature both in his natural and 
sanctified character, (cf. 1 Cor. xvi. 13.) Therefore his 
manly tears must have fallen hot into the souls he sought 
to gain, (cf. Phil. iii. 18.) " Weeping goes before working. 



THE LABOURER. 65 

and suffering before doing," says Luther, who in manliness 
of mind was Paul's counterpart. And the indefatigable 
labourer who wrung from his feeble body the exertions of 
the ministerial workman under pain and temptation, who 
ceased not from warning and teaching, both publicly and 
from house to house, devoting to it even the night, as the 
day grew too short for him; — this "worker together with 
God" would yet work also with his hands as tentmaker, and 
thus eat his own bread in the sweat of his brow. " I have 
shewed you all things," he could say, ''how that so labouring 
ye ought to support the weak ; and to remember the words 
of the Lord Jesus, how He said. It is more blessed to give 
than to receive." If the Apostle wrote his First Epistle to 
Timothy upon a visitation-visit through Macedonia to 
Corinth (2 Cor. xii. 14, xiii. 1, 2) about this time, (which 
from 1 Tim. iii. 14, iv. 13, seems probable,) his pastoral 
exhortations in that epistle would point to a special cause 
for his tears. Not all the members of the Ephesian church 
would content themselves with his teaching " that which 
is good to the use of edifying," but some would still cleave 
to "fables and genealogies," and in spiritual pride of heart 
affect to know secrets, whereby faith would sicken and 
love grow cold, (1 Tim. i. 4-7, iv. 7, vi. 20, 21.) This 
solicitude about the Ephesians he bore in his heart, toge- 
ther with the far deeper grief about the Galatians, whose 
"enemy" he had become, as their false teachers would 
make them believe, and " of whom he travailed in birth 
again," (Gal. iv. 18, 19,) while at Ephesus; for there he 
(doubtless) wrote this Epistle, wherein, both against their 
legal false teachers and the spurious work-mongers of all 
times, he declares his heaven-revealed Gospel of Christ as 
the one, beside which there is not another. And still a third 
sorrow came upon him about this time. Already he had sent 
away Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia, to gather the 

E 



66 ST PAUL. 

collection for tlie poor saints at Jerusalem, (1 Cor. xvi. 1, 
&c.,) when intelligence reached him from the Corinthian 
church, which called for his first epistle to them. An 
Easter epistle it has been appropriately called. In view of 
that approaching feast, he exhorts them to purge out 
the old leaven of malice, (1 Cor. v. 6-8,) reproving their 
lukewarmness and disregard of wholesome church-disci-, 
pline, and further blaming them for overrating spiritual 
gifts in their greedy eagerness for inflating knowledge. 
Yet while his words at times run like rolling thunder over 
the heads of the ungrateful Corinthians, how like a stream 
runs through this very epistle his Christian love, and how 
worthy of being served with the mysteries of God does he 
count His church at Corinth ! And all this, while at 
Ephesus he had to fight with " beasts," (1 Cor. xv. 32,) at 
Satan's instigation, who — bent on his destruction — caused 
him to be treated " as the filth of the world, and the off- 
scouring of all things" (1 Cor. iv. 13,) because that " a great 
door and effectual was opened unto him at Ephesus," (1 Cor. 
xvi. 8, 9.) Yet, unmindful of personal danger, he was only 
solicitous to preserve from spiritual harm the imperilled 
members ot his scattered flocks. Daily pressed upon by 
the care of all the churches, he exclaims : " Who is weak, 
and I am not weak ? who is offended, and I burn not ? " 
(2 Cor. xi. 28, 29.) For the wellbeing of the church at 
Crete likewise he cared in these troublous days, by his 
Epistle to Titus, written probably about the same time. 
In the tumult raised at Ephesus in defence of Diana and 
her silversmiths, whose craft was in danger, the Lord 
shielded His servant — as aforetime in Thessalonica — from 
the rage of an excited populace, through the friendly 
counsel of "certain of the chief of Asia," and according to 
Eom. xvi. 4, also by Priscilla and Aquila risking their lives 
for him ; but withal it was again the arm of legal, though 



THE LABOUREK. 67 

heathen authority, which here, as at Corinth, went to restrain 
the evil-doers ; for although the town-clerk had to throw 
his official shield over the Ephesians' "great goddess 
Diana/' yet he referred Demetrius and his fellow-crafts- 
men to the open law, and warned the people against the 
" danger of being called in question for this day's uproar." 
Thus graciously did the Lord answer the prayers of His 
people, '' for kings and all that are in authority," (1 Tim. 
ii. 2,) and made their meek submission, according to the 
Apostle's doctrine and example, (Tit. iii. 1, 2,) redound to 
their own benefit and protection under persecution. (Cf. 
Acts xix.) 

Pentecost, till which time Paul desired to tarry at 
Ephesus, (1 Cor. xvi. 8,) was fast approaching, and the 
Church was again in peace. Like one raised from the 
dead, he stood among his brethren, (2 Cor. i. 8-11.) Abun- 
dantly comforted by the unlooked-for happy termination 
of the uproar, he once more called unto him the disciples, 
and embracing them, departed for Macedonia, (Acts xx. 1.) 
He made his first halt at Troas, where a door to preach the 
Gospel was opened unto him of the Lord. But " I had no 
rest in my spirit," he writes, "because I found not Titus 
my brother," (2 Cor. ii. 12, 13.) What hurried him thus 
restless from Troas's open door? He had sent Titus to 
relieve Timothy at Corinth. How could he remain quiet 
at Troas, while ruin was menacing his vineyard at Corinth ? 
These sad apprehensions about them followed him to Mace- 
donia ; " for, when we were come into Macedonia," he again 
writes, "our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every 
side : without were fightings, within were fears," (2 Cor. vii. 
5.) In Macedonia, however, where the Church flourished in 
fair spiritual beauty (2 Cor. viii.,) he met Timothy with 
good news from Corinth, which made him at once begin to 
write to his beloved Corinthians a second time. Thereupon, 



68 ST PAUL. 

shortly after, Titus also arrived, whose more recent glad 
tidings about them made him abound in joy : "0 ye Corin- 
thians, our mouth is enlarged," (2 Cor. vi. 11;) "God, that 
comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the 
coming of Titus," (2 Cor. vii. 6 ;) for he told Paul and 
Timothy of the Corinthians' " earnest desire,", 'of their 
" mourning," and their " fervent mind" toward the Apostle, 
whom they had grieved. Of all epistles, this paints the 
Apostle most clearly before our eyes. " With many tears " 
he had written his first letter, (2 Cor. ii. 4 ;) and in this 
second one, too, the Corinthians could not fail to see the 
traces of his moistened eyes. " I trust," says the faithful 
shepherd — whom the Lord never permits to become an 
hireling — '' I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end, 
as also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your 
rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord 
Jesus," (2 Cor. i. 13, 14.) His heart so thrills with emo- 
tions in "longing" after them, "for the exceeding grace of 
God in them," and so exults in the glory of his apostolic 
office, which God enables him faithfully to discharge, that 
he can hardly find utterance for the thoughts that rush in 
upon his mind like flashes of lightning, and he strains 
every nerve to give expression to the inexpressible love his 
spirit breathes. 

Having penetrated to Illyricum, (Eom. xv. 19,) the 
Apostle wintered three months in Greece, (Acts xx. 1-3,) 
and Gains of Derbe became his host at Corinth, (Eom. xvi. 
23.) This period is marked by a double labour of love, 
answering to the twofold magnet by which he was drawn. 
It was now that he completed the long-desired collection 
for the poor saints at Jerusalem ; thereby forming a bond 
of peaceful union between the mother and her daughter 
churches, which might well have attracted the unbelieving 
Jews to Zion's beauty, (cf. 2 Cor. viii. and ix., and Eom. xv. 



THE LABOURER. 69 

25, &c. ;) and it was here he wrote to the Eomans that 
pearl of all his epistles, which evinces the Church of Christ 
in that city to be indeed the fruit of his apostolic labour, 
although he had not as yet reached it in person, (Eom. xv. 
22, &c. ;) for it stamps his seal upon "that form of doc- 
trine," (Eom. vi. 17) which, not through " another man's," 
(Eom. XV. 20,) but his own labour, had been delivered to 
them — viz., through those several evangelic messengers, 
whose " beautiful" footsteps had preceded him thither with 
the message of his apostolical preaching, (cf Eom. xvi.) 
"More boldly" (Eom. xv. 15) does his spirit soar in this 
than any other of his epistles, testifying to the Church in 
that capital of the world, that he is not ashamed of the 
Gospel of Christ, inasmuch as " it is the power of God unto 
salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first, and 
also to the Greek," (Eom. i. 16.) There falls the hammer 
of his heavenly dialectic power with crushing force upon 
man's corruption, till all boasting is excluded, (Eom. iii. 27,) 
and the blows of his forcible logic lay the creature and her 
reason prostrate in the dust before God, (Eom. ix. 20.) 
Most prominent in this epistle is the peculiar sequence of 
his thoughts, forming— as an able judge expresses it — ''a 
strong tissue woven of sinews and muscles, a living string 
of ramified tendons, like the rows of pillars and arches in a 
Gotliic cathedral, or like one of Handel's grand fugues." The 
boldness with which he writes, and which at times excites 
even his own humble gaze, we learn to understand, if we 
bear in mind the historical standing-place from whence he 
writes. Set at large out of narrow straits, led from depths 
up to a lofty height, there stands the great Apostle of the 
Gentiles at Corinth, looking, as from the summit of a 
mountain, back eastwards to Jerusalem, forward into the 
west — to Eome, and beyond it into Spain. As far as to 
Illyricum he has spread the Gospel-net, and built up the 



70 ST PAUL. 

evangelical altar, upon which the Gentiles, sanctified 
through the Holy Ghost, are being offered unto God a sweet 
savour of Christ. His prophetic eye already views the 
church at Eome as heiress to that of Jerusalem ; and, clad 
in the bright armour of his strong knowledge, he brings to 
bear all the experience of his heaven-taught wisdom on 
the service of God in the Gospel of His Son, (Eom. i. 9,) 
which is also "his gospel," (Eom. xvi. 25,) in order so to 
strengthen and consolidate that Church — of Jew and 
Gentile joined in One, — that she might become a pillar 
of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. And 
though her candlestick has been removed out of its place, 
here, in Paul's epistle, it stands unshaken, and sheds 
through the universe its inextinguishable light. Where 
its doctrine reigns, there is Eome's and Jerusalem's legiti- 
mate heiress. An Erasmus, with a shrug of his shoulder, 
could utter the wanton word : " The abstruseness of the 
Eoman epistle excels its utility ; " but Luther called it the 
Lord's lantern, illuminating all the chambers of Holy 
Writ. Thanks be to God for this truest bulwark of the 
Gospel, this choicest flower of Paul's evangelical labour, 
a very amaranth, unfading and immortal ! Amen. 

"" Strive, when thou art call'd of God, 
When He draws thee by His grace, 
Strive to cast away the load 
Thiat would clog thee in the race. 

" Fight, though it may cost thy life ; 
Storm the kingdom, but prevail ; 
Let not Satan's fiercest strife, 
Make thy heart to faint or quail. 

" Wrestle, till through every vein. 
Love and strength are glowing warm : 
Paul's love could the world disdain. 
Half-love will not bide the storm."* 

* In these and other verses in the remaining chapters, I have mostly 
followed the " Lyra Germanica." — Tr. 



VI. 
THE PEISONEE OF JESUS CHEIST. 

" Being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus 
Christ."— Philem. 9. 

Ere the Apostle was bound '' in bonds," (Epli. vi. 20,) lie 
was bound in the spirit : — 

" Love! who thus hast bound me fast 
Beneath that gentle yoke of Thine ; 
Love, who hast conquer'd me at last, 
And rapt away this heart of mine ; 
Love ! I give myself to Thee, 
Thine ever, only Thine to be." 

Thus it sounded in Paul's soul ever since the day that he 
became ''the won of the Lord Jesus." To do nothing 
against, but all for the truth, (2 Cor. xiii. 8;) to "suffer" — not 
as an evil-doer, but for Christ's sake — " even unto bonds," 
• (2 Tim. ii. 9;) to be made a spectacle unto the world, and 
to angels, and to men ; yea, and to become a fool, if it be 
but for Christ's sake, (1 Cor. iv. 9, 10;) such was the mind 
of " the prisoner of Jesus Christ," unto whom the world 
was crucified by Christ, and he unto the world, (Gal. vi. 14.) 
A true bondman of Christ he was, who bore in his body 
the marks of the Lord Jesus, (Gal. vi. 17.) Thus not 
spiritually only, but also bodily it pleased the Lord to call 
His servant to the state of a bondman; and with what 
patience, nay, even exultation, did the Apostle bear these 
bonds of his, as an order of honour to him, and a glory to 
Christ's Church, (Eph. iii. 13.) The remembrance of Peter's 



72 ST PAUL. 

falling chains* (Acts xii. 7) is hardly so glorious and so 
edifying as that of St Paul rejoicing in his chains, and 
triumphing over all enemies, as shewn in his last five 
Epistles, and the last eight chapters of the Acts. 

Where the Apostle speaks to the Eomans of his purposed 
journey to Jerusalem, there he also beseeches them to strive 
together with him in their prayers to God for him, that 
he may ' be delivered from them that do not believe in 
Judaea," and that his service may be accepted of the saints 
at Jerusalem, (Eom. xv. 25-31.) A service of love truly 
this journey was. Surrounded by the first-fruits of his 
harvest among the Gentiles, seven in number, (Acts xx. 4,) 
he embarked for Asia, bearing in his ministering hands 
tokens of sjrmpathy and love from his heathen converts to 
those of the true Israel at Jerusalem. When Jesus held 
His royal entry into Jerusalem, there were certain Greeks 
who desired to see Him, before whom and the still enthu- 
siastic multitude the Lord spoke that inimitable word about 
the corn of wheat that must fall into the ground and die 
ere it can bring forth fruit. ISTow this was accomplished, 
and Paul brought the first-fruits of the Lord to Jerusalem. 
"If any man serve me, let him follow me," continued 
Christ, and His servant Paul followed Him on the way of. 
self-devotion even unto death. His journey to Jerusalem 
bears indeed some resemblance to that which the church 
calls on us to remember on every Sunday before Lent : — 
" Behold we go up to Jerusalem," (Luke xviii. 31.) He 
that raised Lazarus is drawn by the cords of love to go as 
a lamb to the slaughter; he that raised Eutychus by the 
power of Christ, is drawn after Him by the power of His 
love. Well might Paul, over the eucharistic table at Troas, 
continue his speech tiU midnight, (Acts xx. 7 ;) for they 

* Celebrated by the Koman Catholics on their so-called '• Lammas-day," 
(1st of August.) 



THE PEISONER OF JESUS CHEIST. 73 

were parting words inspired by the Comforter, in view of 
his way of suffering; and in his solitary walk " afoot" from 
Troas to Assos (ib. ver. 13) he still strengthened his soul 
in God, while, like his heavenly Master, "he steadfastly 
set his face to Jerusalem." "And now," he says to the 
Ephesian elders at Miletus, "behold, I go bound in the 
spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall 
befall me there : save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in 
every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me." 
That he expected the eve of his labour drawing nigh, and 
spoke in view of his approaching martyrdom, this we feel 
through the whole of that valedictory address, at which we 
have already before taken occasion to glance. Under the 
cross-predicting witness of the Holy Ghost, he departs 
hence, with only this object in view, to "finish his course 
with joy, and to testify the Gospel of the grace of God," 
if by any means — whether by word or deed, preaching or 
suffering — he might provoke to emulation them which are 
his flesh, and might save some of them, (Eom. xi. 14;) a 
true Benjamite, he was still bent on " dividing the spoil 
at night," (Gen. xlix. 29,) even in Jerusalem. By enjoin- 
ing them to take heed to the flock, over which the Holy 
Ghost had made them overseers, and to watch against the 
''grievous wolves," which after his departure would enter 
in among them, " not sparing the flock," — Paul made his 
testament with the elders of the Ephesian church. Yea, 
and he told them openly, '' Behold, I know that ye aU, 
among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, 
shaU see my face no more." This '* I know" seems to 
contradict a later '' knowing" of the Apostle. '' Having 
this confidence," he writes to the Philippians from Eome, 
" I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for 
your furtherance and joy of faith," (Phil. i. 25;) and in this 
confidence he asks the Colossian Philemon (ver. 22) to pre- 



74 ST PAUL. 

pare him a lodging. But what is contradictory to reason 
is edifying to faith. The prayers and tears of his flocks 
have snatched Panl from the jaws of death. The Lord, 
who heareth prayer, added to his numbered days, as to 
Hezekiah's aforetime, years still of fruit-working labour. 
" I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto 
you," writes the " prisoner in Christ Jesus" to Philemon. 
The prayers of the Church formed a fiery wall about the 
Apostle. His disconsolate children, who there at Miletus 
all fell on Paul's neck and wept sore, were not to be kept 
back by his word — that they should see his face no more 
— from supplicating the Lord for his life; yea, it would 
make them cry more fervently: — " Notwithstanding, dear 
Jesus, we beseech Thee, save and preserve unto us our 
Paul, Thy servant ! " It was to incite such prayers in the 
Church, " for a sweet- smelling savour to God," that the 
Holy G-host witnessed of Paul's bonds in every city. (Cf. 
Acts XX,) 

In towns also which his foot had never trod, the Apostle 
found disciples of Christ, whom he blessed; and they 
blessed him, for whom he prayed, and they for him. Paul 
may be bound unto death, but " the word of God is not 
bound." It shall ride over all the high places of the earth; 
it shall accomplish that which the Lord pleases, and shall 
prosper in the thing whereto He sends it; yea, it shall run 
and be glorified, till all the kingdoms of the earth shall 
become the kingdoms of God and of His Christ. At 
Csesarea Paul entered the house of Philip, the brother 
evangelist of blessed Stephen, who once had to flee from 
Jerusalem before Saul's slaughter-breathing spirit, (Acts 
viii.) Now his four virgin daughters prophesied to Paul 
of the cross he was so willing to bear. They were joined 
in this by that Agabus, whose former prophecy had girt 
the younger Paul for a more joyous journey to Jerusalem, 



THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 75 

(Acts xi. 28-30.) To this, his fifth and last, he is also to 
gird him. " He took Paul's girdle, and bound his own 
hands and feet, and said. Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So 
shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this 
girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gen- 
tiles." Oft had the Apostle buckled on his girdle, and in 
all his journeyings among the heathen (2 Cor. xi. 26) had 
ever borne Jerusalem in his heart. Besides his love for 
the poor believers there, it was at this time his inextin- 
guishable love for the still poorer unbelievers, w^hich drew 
him to Jerusalem. And yet at this very time they were 
going to quench his thirst after their salvation with vinegar, 
as they had done Christ's upon the cross. His great heavi- 
ness and continual sorrow of heart, the desire of his heroic 
love, wherewith he could wish to purchase his brethren's 
salvation at the price of his own, (Eom. ix. 1-3,) all was to 
remain unstilled. Yea, his most ardent affection, instead of 
melting them, was only going the more to harden and to 
steel the hearts of his infatuated nation against Jesus, their 
Saviour. These, and not bodily bonds alone, were meant by 
Agabus's girding. But " Paul the aged" allowed himself to 
be girded and led, whither Saul the Benjamite would not. 

" If by the light of heavenly grace 

I may but know Thy will, 
And see through doubts and fears Thy face, 

My soul shall hold Thee still. 
Though Thou deniest my heart's best wish, 

I '11 not repine, Thy will be mine ! 

I have no other will but Thine." 

To such fervent aspirations the Lord would draw Paul's 
soul, when about to pass through his severest trial, that of 
witnessing Israel's downfall by rejecting her Saviour. Yet 
to Jerusalem his steps were bent, and whatever ills might 
betide, it was the Lord's way he went. When, therefore, 



76 ST PAUL. 

his best friends, Timothy and Luke included, and doubt- 
less Philip also, his kind host, who well knew Jerusalem 
and Christ's cross too, — when all, anxious to have his life 
spared for the Gentiles, besought him with tears not to 
go up to Jerusalem, then, indeed, he stood there as one 
that had counted the cost; and severe as might be the 
struggle against the flesh, crying, " Spare thyself!" Christ 
gave him the victory, and " Paul answered. What mean 
ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready, not 
to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name 
of the Lord Jesus." Ay, whether at Jerusalem or Eome, 
if it be but for the name of the Lord Jesus, all shall be 
well. Thus Paul felt, and therefore the most importunate 
solicitations of his well-meaning and best-beloved brethren 
in Christ could not wring the cup from his hand. He 
would pay his vows unto the Lord, (Ps. cxvi. 13-15;) and 
his original commission ran : — " Bear my name before the 
Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel,'' (Acts ix. 
15.) When Luther was met before Worms by his beloved 
Spalatin's message, entreating him not to venture into the 
city, the Lord strengthened him to tread in Paul's foot- 
steps. " The Lord's will be done," said the brethren, and 
they set out silently toward Jerusalem. They "ceased" 
their importunities with Paul, but not with the Lord; and 
His gracious will they obtained, to their unspeakable joy. 
Soon, indeed, they were to see their beloved teacher, 
" bound with two chains," in the hands of the Gentiles ; 
but theirs were saving hands; and what they desired for 
the good of Christ's Church was done, not in spite, but by 
means of the Apostle's bonds at Jerusalem. Eejoice, then, 
ye that pray for Zion, and say " Amen " to Paul's doxology 
— " Unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above 
all that we ask or think, according to the power that 
worketh in us, unto Him be glory in the church by Christ 



THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST, 77 

Jesus throughout all ages/' (Eph. iii. 20.) Cf. Acts xxi. 
1-15. 

Accompanied by certain disciples of Csesarea, Paul en- 
tered Jerusalem on the eve, probably, of Pentecost. In 
order thus best to overcome the prejudices of the dissatis- 
fied Jewish believers, he was with his party warily con- 
ducted to the house of Mnason, an old disciple of Cyprus, 
experienced in the way of the Lord. As he trod the 
streets of that beloved city, it might sound in his heart, 
" I will very gladly spend and be spent for you ; though 
the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved," 
(2 Cor. xii. 15.) On the following day Paul went to 
James the Lord's brother, where he met aU the elders, 
and was well received by them. Pour years had passed 
since they last met, and he declared to them one by one 
what, during this period, God had wrought among the 
Gentiles by his ministry ; " and when they had heard 
it, they glorified the Lord." These elders, and especially 
James, — who remained in the darkened city after the other 
apostles left it, — were lighting the troubled flock with the 
lamp of life, and to their Christian fidelity the Apostle after- 
wards bears the highest testimony, (Heb. xiii. 7-17.) It was 
from respect to them, that he felt himself bound to yield 
to their request, that he would purify himself, and so satisfy 
the thousands of prejudiced Jews, just then for the feast at 
Jerusalem. If they saw with their own eyes that the 
preacher of evangelical liberty, and of righteousness by 
faith without works, could also observe the law, where it 
might do good, would not they be constrained then to 
open their hearts to this gracious guest visiting the Lord's 
feast ? James and his elders hoped so ; and Paul, in the 
love. that "hopeth aU things," would willingly become a 
servant to his weaker brethren in all things lawful. It 
was not uncommon among the Jews, that poor [N'azarites 



78 ST PAUL. 

had tlie temple-costs of their vows defrayed by their 
wealthier brethren, who thus partook in their services. 
In this manner Paul was "at charges" with four poor 
Nazarites. In a more conciliating way he could not have 
acted. Yet we hear nothing of the effect it produced. 
But the false Jews, and foremost those of Asia, stirred up 
the people, and laid hands on him, raising the same cry 
against him, in Avhich aforetime he also had joined against 
Stephen ; and he would have perished under their murder- 
ous hands, had not the Eoman soldiers come with all 
speed to his rescue. No honest Israelite aided him. Thus 
it was again the heathen authorities to whom he was 
indebted for protection from the lynch-law of the rabble. 
Bound with two chains, after Eoman custom, he was con- 
veyed to the imperial barracks amid the cries of the mob : 
— " Away with him ! " and up the stairs conducting to the 
Antonian castle he had to be "borne of the soldiers for 
the violence of the people." Thus strangely was the 
saviour of the Gentiles saved by Gentile hands. Yet no 
sooner did he stand again on his feet, and look down upon 
the throngs gathered on the slope of the castle, than he 
resolved to make the top of the stairs his pulpit, and 
testify to his blind brethren of his happiness, even in 
bonds, as the won of the Lord Jesus. The Eoman chief 
took him for a notorious Egyptian bandit, who under pre- 
tence of being a prophet, had recently fooled thousands of 
misguided Jews into a revolt against the Eoman yoke. 
But the prisoner's courteous request, in Greek, to be per- 
mitted to address the people, astonished the Eoman, and 
still more the civil yet dignified and manly bearing of the 
ill-treated citizen of Tarsus. He therefore gave him licence 
to speak. How reproving does this Claudius Lysias stand 
in front of the raging Jews ! and how friendly and signifi- 
cantly did the Lord from heaven beckon to his prisoner, 



THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 79 

to mark and understand, in whose castle lie was secure ! 
(Cf. Acts xxi. 16-40.) 

From this time forth, down to its goal, — his arrival at 
Eome, — the history of the Lord's prisoner is one chain of 
marvellous deliverances, wrought by explainable means, 
yet wonderfully providential. That the word of God was 
not bound, though he was, (2 Tim. ii. 9,) the Apostle now 
proves in a series of bold defences of the Gospel, for which 
his very bonds gave him the welcome occasion. Their 
leading apologetic outlines are : — Jesus of E'azareth is the 
Christ ; Paul, His apostle, is a true Israelite ; and the 
despised sect of the Nazarene is the heir to the promises 
of God's chosen people. In narrating to the people of 
Jerusalem the history of his conversion from Pharisaic 
darkness to the light of Divine grace in Christ Jesus, he 
smartly knocks at the door of their consciences. He does 
not spare himself the pain of circumstantially relating 
what he has been, in order to draw his benighted brethren 
to become what now he was through grace. With dehcate 
tact, enough to veil from the ear of the Eoman soldiers his 
confessions, as unable to understand them, he spoke in 
Hebrew. Prom the heart of the Hebrew his words 
would best find their way to Hebrew hearts. But theirs 
were hardened, '' according as it is written," (Eom. xi. 8.) 
A learned disquisition about the relation of their law to 
the Gospel might have pleased them better. Paul's theo- 
logy of facts was unbearable to them, they having before 
determined: "Away with him!" Yet this worn and 
insignificant-looking man, who " turned the world upside 
down " by his preaching, knew how to exact silence from 
them, and "they gave him audience unto that word/' 
wherewith he quoted his commission from Jesus : " De- 
part, for I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles." This 
excited their rage. Of the "beds of spices," planted in 



80 ST PAUL. 

the garden of the Gentiles by onr heavenly Solomon, to 
provoke by their loveliness his faithless " Shulamite," to 
return from the wilderness, (Song of Solomon vi. 2-13, viii. 
5;) — of the "broken off branches" of their own "olive- 
tree," making place for the "graffing in among them" of 
the " wild olive-tree," (Eom. xi.,) — they would hear no- 
thing. They would have stoned him like Stephen, had 
not the Eoman camp been his city of refuge. In the 
''holy" camp of Israel, now turned into "La-ammi," 
(Hos. i. 9,) this citizen of the true Israel was doomed 
to die — in that of the Gentiles, the Eoman citizen finds 
protection under the "powers that be." Csesar is re- 
spected in his camp — the King of Israel despised in that 
of His people. This tragical event in Paul's life, the 
preludes to which we saw at Thessalonica and Corinth, 
is completed here in Jerusalem; and however grating 
to the Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, Paul, the 
prisoner of Jesus Christ, is resigned to it. Yea, recog- 
nising in it the Lord's protecting hand, and averse to all 
straining after martyrdom, he stays the "thongs" and lash 
of the inquisition, by his resolute appeal to the centurion, 
(made more timely than aforetime at Philippi :) — " Is it law- 
ful for you to scourge a Eoman, and uncondemned ? " 
Csesar's men understanding his polished Greek better than 
the Jews their holy Hebrew, Lysias "straightway" had 
his bands loosed, and commanded the chief priests and all 
their council to appear before him " on the morrow." (Cf. 
Acts xxii.) 

There, then, stands the Apostle in their midst, a prisoner 
indeed, but the prisoner of the Lord, only given into 
Caesar's custody, who has to serve as " the minister of God 
to him for good," by procuring him audience. With a 
quick apprehension of his situation, unprovoked by their 
treatment, and penetrated only with the desire to omit 



THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 81 

nothing that might tend to remove the veil from their 
faces, Paul stood "earnestly beholding the council," and 
ready for his defence. No one called on him, but the 
frownuig looks of the Pharisees spoke defiance to the 
renegade; when thus he began: "Men and brethren, I 
have lived in all good conscience before God imtil this 
day." They had thought this former Pharisee must have 
corrupted and subverted his conscience; but Paul knew 
all he did to be the doing of the faith of Christ; and 
therefore, by the grace of God, he could rejoice in the 
testimony of his conscience, (2 Cor. i. 12.) IsTow, only, 
since Christ was born in him, did he serve the God of his 
fathers with a pure conscience, (2 Tim. i, 3,) and had found 
that which out of Christ he had sought in vain. Ananias, 
the high priest, felt the sting of the accusation in Paul's 
words, and commanded to "smite him on the mouth." 
Had this drawn from "the choleric" Paul a passionate 
expression, he still would remain what he is, for a sinless 
saint he is made only by over-pious bigotry. It being, 
however, more than improbable, that, by his official dress 
and his seat of dignity, the Apostle should not have known 
him to be the high priest, we deem his curse, " God shall 
smite thee, thou whited wall," not an unwitting sin against 
God's command, " Thou shalt not curse the ruler of thy 
people," (Exod. xxii. 28 ;) and his explanation, " I wist not, 
brethren, that he was the high priest," not an apology for 
such sin. It was the putrefaction of Ananias' ungodli- 
ness, exhaled from beneath the whitewash of his legal 
dignity, that made unknowable the bearer of the high- 
priestly office. Paul looked upon Ananias as God looked 
upon him, and recognised in him the transgressor of the 
law, and not the judge after the law.* And, lo, Paul's 

•5^ It is with the author's consent, that I express my dissent from his 
view on this passage — which he has given more at large, and corroborated 



82 ST PAUL. 

address of "brethren" struck upon the hearts of some of 
the Pharisees, to whom the Sadducees '' sitting in Moses' 
seat " was obnoxious. The presence of mind and serpent- 
wisdom, wherewith Paul knew how to take advantage of 
the party-spirit in the council, puts us in mind of Luther's 
word, ''Where grace meets a man, by nature clever and 
ingenious, it makes use of him for the benefit of others." 
Paul's sense not unfrequently draws admiration even from 
worldly people ; but they do not think or understand, that 
Christian Paul acts everywhere, and so here before the 
comicil, with all good conscience, always uniting with the 
serpent- wisdom the harmlessness of the dove, (Matt. x. 16.) 
His is not the wily shrewdness of a crafty Jew. It was not 
with the cunning of the lawyer, but the prudence of the 
pastor, that with the wedge of his timely exclamation — 
" Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee, 
of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in 
question," — he split into two the hostile camp, which was 
only kept together by their common enmity to the risen 
Jesus ; and sought to gain over to his faith the confessors 
of the hope of Israel. This — the resurrection of the dead 
— was an article in the Pharisee's confession of faith, 
which Paul had not denied ; nay, rather, he had found the 
kernel of the nut in ''the First-Fruits" of the resurrection ; 
in Him Israel's hope had become alive. The chief captain 
would turn with a contemptuous smile from the disorderly 



by quotations from Luther, in his comment on the Acts. I certainly think, 
with the learned author, that the Apostle could not well mistake the high 
priest ; but I take his '^ I wist not," to mean " I lost sight of," — " did not 
bear in mind;" an admission certainly implying a severe reflection; for 
had Ananias' bearing been in consonance with his office, Paul could not 
have forgotten himself, i.e., lost sight of his being the high priest. A com- 
parison with other passages justifies this sense of the Greek word; for 
instance, Eph. vi. 8, and Col. iii. 24, in both which places, the English 
" knowing " is quite tantamount to " bearing in mind." — Te. 



THE PRISONEE OF JESUS CHRIST. 83 

uproar in the holy Sanhedrim, and fearing for his prisoner, 
''lest he should have been pulled in pieces of them," he 
had him brought into the castle, where, lying in darkness, 
''the Lord stood by" His troubled and comfort-needing 
servant, saying unto him, " Be of good cheer, Paul : for as 
thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear 
witness also at Eome." This, "thou must," he cauo^ht 
hold of with firm faith, and yet trod the wondrous path 
traced for him by God, so soberly and circumspectly, that 
he did not think his young nephew too mean an angel to 
disappoint those forty Jewish zealots who conspired against 
his life. He evidently had won upon the Eoman captain 
by his manly and collected bearing, and the whole charm 
of his character. Yet, without some palpable of&cial cause, 
his personal favour and sympathy for the prisoner would 
hardly have induced Claudius Lysias to risk his popularity 
by summoning military force to his protection. It is, 
indeed, an edifying spectacle this nightly transport from 
Jerusalem to Csesarea. "Who Thee serves. Thou mighty 
Lord, may bid defiance to the world !" Now Paul is in the 
hands of governor Felix, a profligate, who, as Tacitus has 
it, under the guise of cruelty concealed a servile soul. He 
was to feel the weight of this singular prisoner's testimony, 
and quail beneath it. (Cf. Acts xxiii.) 

Against the accusations of the Jews, who came down to 
Csesarea with a hired attorney, the "ringleader of the sect 
of the Nazarenes," this " pestilent fellow," — as Tertullus is 
pleased to designate him,- — answers with singular appro- 
priateness, and with the fearlessness of which he writes, 
(Ptom. xiii. 3,) " Wilt thou not be afraid of the power ? do 
that which is good." Felix was not miacquainted with 
the Christian way, though his own was the broad one. 
Therefore the Apostle could expect him to understand, that 
the Christians were only the legitimate Jews, which was the 



84 ST PAUL. 

drift of PaTil's defence before him, who was bound by his 
office to protect that nation in the exercise of their religion. 
With all the composure and circumspection which the 
case called for, he omitted not to make a thrust into this 
new Pilate's conscience, by lighting on it with the testi- 
mony of Israel's hope, the resurrection of the dead, " both 
of the just and unjust." Unscrupulous as he was, yet 
Felix so far conformed to the duty of his office, that he 
would not deliver Paul to the Jewish court of justice, 
but left the case in suspense, meanwhile extending to his 
prisoner a mild treatment in Herod's court-house. To 
indulge his amorous wife, Drusilla, " which was a Jewess," 
with a piquant entertainment on the subject of her religion, 
he had Paul summoned into their presence. But Paul 
was no lover of soft raiment. Like John the Baptist, be- 
fore Herod Antipas, he stood before Felix, and reasoned 
with him and his Herod's daughter, ''of righteousness, 
temperance, and judgment to come." Whereat the sensual 
worldling " trembled," and stammered out a civil phrase, to 
rid himself of the truth by dissembling compliment. By 
degrees, however, he unlearned this trembling before the 
bound preacher of the unbound word, and thinking, after 
the maxim of a true worldling, that even this Nazarene's 
uprightness must have its price, he put up for two years 
with his reasonings of temperance, in the hope that 
" money should have been given him of Paul, that he 
might loose him." Thus, then, the labourer of the Lord 
kept involuntary holiday for two years ; yet how the dew 
of heaven descended on him in his lonely cell, we perceive 
where he comes forth again in the power of God's strength. 
(Of Acts xxiv.) 

Felix's successor, Porcius Festus, feels personally greatly 
inclined "to do the Jews a pleasure," by sacrificing Paul 
to their bloodthirsty plans, but he must protect him. His 



THE PKISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 85 

accusers now proceed to bring a charge of high treason 
against him. But Paul, not unskilled in law and the 
rights of a Eoman citizen, resists Festus' sinister proposal 
to send him up for trial to Jerusalem, by appealing to 
Csesar ; hardly thinking at the time, that what his adver- 
saries now forced him to, would become the very means 
of fulfilling God's word to him, " Thou must bear witness 
also at Eome." As yet, however, he had not done with 
his witness before the unbelieving Jews in Judsea. Herod 
Agrippa, the son of James' murderer, came down to 
Caesarea to greet the new governor ; and before this last 
king of his nation — in a brilliant assembly of polished 
courtiers, the heads, no doubt, of the civil and military 
departments at Caesarea, and all the 4lite of that city — 
Paul was to close the series of his apostolic defences. (Cf. 
Acts XXV.) 

It is the masterpiece of holy eloquence w^herewith the 
Apostle meets King Agrippa. By his Judaism he seizes 
this Herod's son, and forces him to bear witness to the 
unquestionable fact, that conversion to the Lord Jesus is 
no falling off from the God of Israel, but, contrariwise, the 
only way for securing the hope of that twelve-tribed nation. 
After, then, simply stating the ground of a Christian's 
faith and hope, by narrating his own conversion, in which 
here he gives prominence to his call as Apostle to the 
Gentiles, he proceeds to say — " Having, therefore, obtained 
help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to 
small and great, saying none other things than those wliich 
the prophets and Moses did say should come : that Christ 
should suffer, and that He should be the first that should 
rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, 
and to the Gentiles." Here he was interrupted by Festus 
calling out aloud, '' Paul, thou art beside thyself; much 
learning doth make thee mad." The Eoman statesman 



86 ST PAUL. 

felt something strangely snpernatural in Paul's speech. 
This prisoner lauds the crucified Jesus as the ''light of the 
Gentiles," and Agrippa listens to him with rapt attention. 
That would never do, he thought, and deemed it high 
time to interrupt the enthusiastic speaker. But how must 
the reply of this madman fall on his astonished ear, when, 
unoffended, and in complete self-possession — not even 
omitting his official title, ''most noble" Festus^Paul 
assures him that he speaks the " words of truth and sober- 
ness," and appeals to "the king" that these were not 
matters of fancy, but literal realities ; not hidden things 
done in a corner, but open historical facts. 'Nor had 
Paul done with the king yet. A holy fencer, and "not as 
one that beateth the air," he hits him in the most vul- 
nerable place, in putting, like a flaming sword, the pointed 
question to him — " King Agrippa, belie vest thou the pro- 
phets?" Embarassing pause! "I' know that thou be- 
lievest," says Paul the prophet; and thus sinks the sword 
of the Spirit into the heart of a man unable to resist the 
conviction, that what the prophets have spoken must come 
to pass. But one step more, and he had believed that it 
had come to pass in Jesus of Nazareth. But this step 
Bernice's incestuous brother was unwilling to take, and 
forcing out an easy joke, he replied, "Almost thou per- 
suadest me to be a Christian." But the skilled soldier of 
Christ knew immediately how to turn to account the 
beaten king's high-spoken word, by rejoining, in deep 
earnest, " I would to God that not only thou, but also all 
that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether 
such as I am, except these bonds." These, surely, are not 
the words of a mad enthusiast. His Christian joy Paul 
would have all men to be partakers of; nor did he doubt 
the Lord's power, who had overcome him, to overcome the 
mightiest, and take the great for a spoil, while his Christian 



THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 87 

C1VSS he would bear, " as of the ability which God giveth," 
without wishing it upon any other's shoulders. The smile 
had died on the king's lips, and with hurried despatch he 
drew to a close the business which had taken so unex- 
pected a turn. He could not help admitting, that the 
religion of Jesus was unforbidden in the Jewish land. 
And it is singular enougli that, after all, the governor 
should be compelled to what seemed to him so unrea^son- 
able a thing, the sending a prisoner up to Eome, " and not 
withal signifying the crimes laid against him." (Cf. Acts 
xxvi.) 

The history of his voyage to Italy turns up a new leaf 
in Paul's life, which we shall find no less edifying to glance 
over. His serene composure, and yet quick perception, 
wherewith he knew how to master every situation, we 
have indeed had repeated occasion already to behold and 
admire. But here we meet a mutinous crew tamed and 
led by our captive Jew, who bears a hand himself in the 
ship as smartly as if he had been a born seaman. Our 
first look is fixed properly upon the hand of the Lord, who 
gives as a prize to His servant those very men that carried 
him captive to Eome; but it affords St Luke an evident 
pleasure to paint in its minutest details the conduct of his 
beloved Paul, through whom, as his instrument, the Lord 
brings about what He pleases to the joy of His Church. 
The Adramyttian ship from the harbour of Csesarea, and 
the Alexandrian which sailed from Myra, bare the precious 
freight, which was at length to still the longings of the 
distant " isles," (Isa. xlii. 4, li. 5, Ix, 9.) Satan would 
fain have made the deep, that calls him lord, to become 
the grave of his stout adversary. But to " perils in the 
sea " the Apostle was not unused, for thrice he had suffered 
shipwTeck, a night and a day he had been in the deep, 
(2 Cor. xi. 25.) No wise doubting the Lord's safe guid- 



88 ST PAUL. 

ance, who liad ensured his life by His own words, yet Paul 
knew that he was not on board as dead cargo, but as a 
living Christian man; and no sooner did the approaching 
tempest threaten to endanger their passage in the Medi- 
terranean, than he stepped forward with his counsel, advis- 
ing them to run in and winter at Crete, in a harbour called 
" The Fair Havens." " Nevertheless the centurion " of the 
imperial life-guards at Csesarea, who had charge of Paul, 
friendly as he was to him, " believed the master and the 
owner of the ship," more than the " missionary." How- 
ever, it went so badly with their discipline on board, that 
neither master nor owner, who both wished to hasten with 
corn to the Italian market, could gain their point, for '' the 
more part" preferred to run into another harbour of Crete, 
which offered them a more agreeable sojourn for wintering. 
This was confusion worse confounded. Meanwhile, the 
wind called "Euroclydon" really arose, and no skill of the 
most skilful could now do aught with the ship; sa they 
''let her drive." Then Paul turned sailor, with both Luke 
and Aristarchus his companions, and won favour with the 
crew by '' bearing a hand" in getting up tlie boat, under- 
girding the ship, and lightening her by heaving her gear 
overboard. Still all was in vain. Three sunless days and 
still worse starless nights they were driven to and fro upon 
the tempest-tossed waves; and "all hope that we should 
be saved was then taken away," writes Luke. But then 
was shewn what, under God, one man's word can accomplish. 
Amid the despairing crowd, staring into their watery grave, 
which is yawning before them, Paul steps forth, and having 
reproved their wanton rejection of his counsel, he says, 
" And now, I exhort you to be of good cheer, for there 
shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the 
ship." What! is Paul going to bear them all upon his 
back, and swim with them to the unseen land ? No, but 



THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHEIST. 89 

upon his heart he has borne them. " For there stood by 
me," he continues, " this night the angel of God, whose I 
am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear not, Paul: thou must 
be brought before Caesar ; and lo, God hath given thee all 
them that sail with thee/' He that can thus depict and 
magnify the Lord's goodness will also draw Gentile hearts, 
and find open ears, when he preaches Him to them. Paul 
has turned " naval chaplain," and the crew have heard a 
life-sermon. The whole had to acknowledge themselves 
his prize, not even Julius the centurion excepted. "Where- 
fore, sirs," he joyfully continues, "be of good cheer: for I 
believe God, that it shall be even as He hath told me." 
This is his sheet-anchor — faith, the rope which he throws 
to the hopeless, that they may cling to it and be safe. 
But one demand he has to make along with it. They must 
relinquish all thoughts of saving the ship, and with their 
bare lives must be stranded on an island. Will they do 
it? Are they going into the "life-boat" of Paul's word, 
and abandon the planks they are still treading? 'Not 
immediately. They sound first, and find it twenty fathoms, 
and next fifteen. Then fearing lest they should run upon 
rocks, they cast four anchors astern, and wish for the day. 
Now the crew, under colour of casting anchors out of the 
foreship also, stealthily let the boat down into the sea, in 
order to make their escape in it at break of day. But 
Paul, amid the night's confusion, perceived their design, 
and called out to the centurion and soldiers, " Except these 
abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved." How differently 
would the mythic muse equip and deck out her hero! 
Paul looks upon the prize God hath given him, not as 
machines, but men, who, with meek submission, have to 
enter into God's will for their salvation, and to bestir them- 
selves in that way which it shall please God to point out 
for their rescue. Look, with what elastic buoyancy, and 



90 ST PAUL. 

yet iron firmness, this hero of faith puts his whole man in 
motion; his every sense and reason he places as means at 
God's disposal, to work His will. With all his perfect 
self-surrender to God, he never loses self-possegsion; with 
all his depth of tender feeling, there is no sentimentality; 
with all the deep rest of a broken heart, there is no con- 
fused mysticism; with all his affections set on the things 
above — having "tasted the powers of the world to come" 
—there is no want of sense for this life, nor any monkish 
depreciation of it; with, all the implicit obedience of the 
bondman of Christ, he yet possesses the firmest energy of 
will and thorough manliness. Tor a long time I could not 
understand why Luke should have sketched the history of 
this voyage with so lingering a pencil. In my comment 
on this chapter, I have mainly endeavoured to shew what 
position Paul's voyage to Italy occupies in the holy drama 
of "the Acts of the Apostles, or rather the history of the 
deeds, through them, of the risen and exalted Saviour in 
His primitive church." But in the epos also of Paul's life, 
in the picture of his character, the history ©f this voyage 
shines forth in the lustre of primeval freshness. Can we 
still wonder that Paul has won the Eoman Julius' heart ? 
Upon his word he orders his soldiers to ''cut off the ropes 
of the boat, and let her fall off." That was strong faith, 
strengthened by Paul's own. 'Now every bridge of human 
help is cut off, and the "life-boat" of Paul's word held 
firm by the safety-rope of the Almighty's faithfulness — 
their only refuge. As daylight came on, Paul yet once 
more stepped forth among the crew, who looked despond- 
ing after a fortnight's fast, and winningly beseeching them 
to take courage, and ''to take meat for their health," he 
adds, " for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any 
of you." And lo, they hearken to his voice amid the 
roaring sea, whose every surging billow threatens to snap 



THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 91 

the fragile cables, and dash the vessel to pieces on the 
rocks. '' And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, 
and gave thanks to God in presence of them all ; and when 
he had broken it, he began to eat." In truth an heroic 
meal ! and his fervent ''grace " in breaking the bread, won 
upon all the two hundred and seventy-six souls, whom 
God had given him : ''Then were they all of good cheer; 
and they also took some meat." "And when they had 
eaten enough, they forthwith cast the wheat into the sea," 
took up the anchors, loosed the rudder-bands, hoised the 
mainsail to the wind, and made toward the shore of an 
unknown isle. Driven betwixt two seas which met, they 
soon ran aground with such force, that "the forepart of 
the ship stuck fast, and remained unmoveable, but the 
hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves." 
Seeing some bent on their escape by jumping overboard, 
"the soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners." Their 
duty, truly Eoman ! stood above their gratitude. But the 
centurion, " willing to save Paul," — to the veiy last it is the 
arm of a man, directed by God, that shields the Apostle's 
life — "kept them from their purpose ; " and upon his military 
command, "those that could swim" had to "cast them- 
selves first into the sea," and get to land, in order to draw 
those ashore that drifted after, on boards and broken pieces 
of the ship. "And so," by straining every human nerve to 
the last, "it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to 
land." Thus the Almighty humbly hid His wondrous 
help under cover of the human; and Paul has compre- 
hended God's manner, which is not that of pointing a 
pistol to a man's breast, with a peremptory, " Believe, or 
die !" (Cf. Acts xxvii.) 

It was only after they had reached the island in safety 
— which proved to be Malta — that the shipwrecked party 
came to know their deliverer, as one of those w^ho should 



92 ST PAUL. 

have ''power to tread on serpents and scorpions." Him 
who had shared all the hardships and necessities of the 
ship — who had proved himself a naval hero, rather than a 
churchman — they now saw how he laid hands on the sick 
of the island, from the honse of Publius the chief, to all 
around that came unto him, and they were healed. After a 
three months' stay, they departed again, highly honoured, for 
Paul's sake, and richly furnished with provisions by the 
hospitable islanders. Under the heathen sign of " Castor 
and Pollux," the destroyer of heathenism — after spending 
three days at Syracuse — they safely reached the harbour 
of Puteoli, where, to their joy, they found "brethren,-" at 
whose desire Paul — such was now the centurion's indul- 
gence of his prisoner — was allowed to tarry seven days 
with them, and thereupon went on to Eome; whence 
brethren met him, as far as Appii Porum, and the Three 
Taverns; "whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and 
took courage." The sorrow for Jerusalem and Zion's 
people, which his heart had felt doubly on the voyage that 
conveyed him from them, had made him no way incapable 
of acting as we have seen him do. "Who of the ship's 
company would have thought that this heroic prisoner 
was all the while, internally, bowed down under mental 
sufferings ? Yet Luke, not only his " beloved physician," 
(Col. iv. 14,) but also his trusty brother, discovers to us, 
that it was only upon the grateful and encouraging sight 
of the Eoman brethren, (Eom. xv. 23, 24,) that the Apostle's 
mournful sorrow was changed into joyful thanksgiving. 
Their fall is the riches of the world, (Eom. xi. 12 ;) this he 
now saw with his eyes and took courage — to go on with 
the graf&ng in of " the wild olive-tree " among the broken 
off ''natural branches," in order that "the good olive-tree" 
might bud again and flourish in many G-entile branches; 
while those "broken off in unbelief" he commended to the 



THE PRISOXER OF JESUS CHRIST. 93 

goodness of God, " who is able to graff tliem in again." 
A prisoner, and yet triumphant, Paul enters Eome. (Cf. 
Acts xxviii. 1-15.) 

Julius the centurion's favourable report to the captain 
of the imperial guard, procured Paul the liberty of staying 
where he pleased, with only a soldier for his guard. With 
unshaken fidelity to his nation, and with inexhaustible 
patience, also here at Eome, he addressed himself first to 
his own brethren after the flesh, and sought to gain their 
confidence. Compelled to claim Caesar's protection from his 
Jewish persecutors, yet would he have naught to accuse 
his nation of, rather declaring, " For the hope of Israel I 
am bound with this chain." But, alas ! he found the Jews 
the same at Eome as everywhere else, and with Isaiah's 
woe he is forced to take leave of them. Having tried in 
vain, '^ from morning till evening," to '' persuade them 
concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of 
the prophets," he has recourse again to what is everywhere 
his last resource with them, i.e., provoking them to jealousy 
by the salvation of the Gentiles ; and concludes, ''Be it 
known, therefore, unto you, that the salvation of God is 
sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it." And 
they have heard it. Two whole years Paul dwelt at Eome 
in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto 
him ; preaching in this capital of the world the kingdom 
of God — in the residence of Caesar whom the world called 
"Lord," (Acts xxv. 26,) the name of the Lord Jesus, in- 
wardly with all confidence, outwardly without restraint ; 
an ambassador of Christ, wearing the chain, not indeed of 
an imperial order, but of an imperial prisoner — in token of 
the suffering state of Christ's Church, But the Word of 
God was not bound ; that sufficed him. (C£ Acts xxviii. 
16-31.) 

That, upon the expiration of these two years, Paul's 



94 ST PAUL. 

long-pending trial does not yet terminate in his execution, 
some slight hints in the Acts, and more in his Epistles, 
seem to indicate. The ancient Chnrch, too — already, it 
should seem, Clemens Eomanns, his own disciple — almost 
uniformly thought, that the Apostle was permitted to ac- 
complish his purposed journey into Spain, (Eom. xv. 24;) 
and of a return to the East his Second Epistle to Timothy 
shews evident traces. (Cf. 2 Tim. iv. 13, 20, passages which can 
hardly suit Paul's first journey from Corinth, via Jerusalem, 
to Eome.) Whence this epistle — the Apostle's last legacy to 
the Church — must have been, and, in fact, was written 
during a second imprisonment of Paul at Eome, and in 
view of his near martyrdom, (2 Tim. iv. 6-8,) which, accord- 
ing to the unanimous testimony of the ancients, he suffered 
by the sword under Nero. But for a sketch of him after 
the Word of God, Luke has set us the limits. One glance, 
however, we must still cast upon the letters which the 
Apostle wrote during his two years' detention at Eome. 
They are effusions of holy joy from the prisoner of the 
Lord. That to the Ephesians, a circular epistle to the 
churches in and about Ephesus, is a ''song of degrees," 
set for the Church of Christ. In it he contemplates with 
holy ecstasy God's marvel-building reared of living souls, 
and growing together unto an holy temple in the Lord, as 
the historical realisation of " the mystery of Christ." Hand 
in hand with this goes that to the Colossians, which 
breathes all the heavenly joy of a cross-honoured confessor. 
With prominent lustre shines in it the word of Christ, as 
the all-suf&cient treasure of His Church. Most earnestly 
does the Apostle exhort '' the saints and faithful brethren 
in Christ," in firm faith and pure doctrine to " hold the 
Head, and to cling unwaveringly to Him, in whom dwell- 
eth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily," bewaring of all 
deceit and beguiling of their reward by any dreamy, self- 



THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 95 

chosen, or affected spirituality. In his Philippian epistle, 
Paul's heart leaps for joy, and cannot be sad : a dozen 
times and more the words ''joy" and "rejoice" occur in it. 
The Philippian Church — this pearl of his first-love (remem- 
ber Acts xvi.) — remained his jewel through life. He 
cheerfully accepted their " ministering unto his necessities," 
and they were also privileged to '' communicate with his 
affliction" even at Eome. "To abide in the flesh," and 
continue with them for their ''furtherance and joy of 
faith," struggled in him with the desire "to depart and be 
with Christ," the sole gain of his life, and the fountain of 
all his joy, whereout to drink righteousness and peace 
became daily more precious to his soul. With "great joy" 
also he writes to Philemon. All the grace and loveliness 
of a manly soul breathes its rich perfume through this 
little letter of " Paul the aged," who in his bonds plays 
merrily on words, beseecliing Philemon to place to his 
account, as partner, aught Onesimus, once servant, now 
a brother, might be indebted to their joint-firm of love. 
Finally the " Hebrews" saluted by the " Gentile " churches. 
("They of Italy salute you," Heb. xiii. 24.) For though 
we can hardly allow Paul himself to be the author of this 
epistle, (chap. ii. 3 ;) — the word of salvation " was confirmed 
unto us by them that heard him," already forbids this ; — 
yet that the Holy Ghost, as He was in Paul, inspired it, is 
sure enough, and that Luke is the author commissioned 
and counselled by the Apostle, we may deem very pro- 
bable.* As the Apostle saw the day of ''judgment and 

* In this view I cannot concur. Taking the Apostle to speak in the 
name of the Hebrews, as undoubtedly he does in Heb. ii. 3, (cf. v. 1,) 
every difficulty (which the author feels) of reconciling this passage with 
Gal. i. 12, falls of course to the ground; and by "them that heard him" 
are evidently meant their late teachers, principally James, the Lord's 
brother, who had " spoken unto them the word of God," (Heb. xiii. 7.) 
But we certainly have the strongest correlative evidence for Paul, and 



96 ST PAUL. 

fiery indignation" impend over Jerusalem, (Heb. x. 25-27,) 
his affectionate heart was stirred by love to his never for- 
gotten Hebrew brethren, to strengthen their shaken confi- 
dence by his testifying — but no, perhaps they would rather 
hear it from another than himself — by one of his fellow- 
helpers testifying to them of the immovable kingdom, 
and its imperishable blessings, as theirs by inheritance; 
and by magnifying to them the great High Priest of the 
heavenly sanctuary, before whose glory the splendour of 
Zion's superannuated tabernacle fades. 

Through the whole way, in which we have followed the 
track of Paul's feet, we have seen fulfilled to himself the 
prayer he offers up with bended knees for the Ephesians, 
that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would grant them, 
according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened 
with might by His Spirit in the inner man, (Eph. iii. 16.) 
In acting, in speaking and writing, in suffering and in 
silent rest, all is of one cast throughout — he is as much 
''every inch a Christian," as he is "every inch a man;" 
the crown of his heroic character being the offering up of 
himself to "please Him who hath chosen him to be a 
soldier," (2 Tim. ii. 4) " Christ is all and in aU," (Col. iii. 11,) 
was his symbolum. To live unto Christ in all things 
was his glory, and to " present every man perfect in Christ 
Jesus," the aim of all his life. Does the greatness of this 
man oppress thee, instead of elevating thee ? Behold, "by 
the grace of God I am what I am ; " and in exhorting his 
beloved Philippians, "Brethren, be followers together of 
me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an 
ensample," (Phil. iii. 17;) he expects nothing of his brethren 
that is beyond the power of the riches of God's grace 

none other, being the author, in the two passages, Heb. x. 34, and xiii. 
18, 19. They are, in fact, hardly short of conclusive proof, on which his 
authorship may securely rest. — Te. 



THE PRISONER OF JESUS CHRIST. 97 

working in them both to will and to do, (Phil. ii. 13.) It 
shall be done, if we will but tread in the blessed footsteps 
of Paul's faith. 

" Wouldst thou inherit life with Christ on high ? 

Then count the cost, and know, 

That here on earth below 
Thou needs must suflPer with the Lord and die. 
We reach the gain, to which all else is loss 

But through the Crpss." 



VII. 

THE ma:n' of faith. 

" We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, 
and therefore have I spoken ; we also believe, and therefore speak." 
—2 Cor. iv. 13. 

A MAK Paul was, in the full sense of the word. To what 
glory (2 Cor. iii. 18) fallen man, created after God's image, 
may be renewed, is seen in Paul, as hardly in any other. 
Is spiritual life ruled by the holy triumvirate of these three, 
— faith, hope, charity? (1 Cor. xiii. 13.) Then Paul became 
the man he was by the harmonious reign in him of these 
three fundamental graces. An enemy to all half-hearted- 
ness, ever thoroughly decided for what attracted his soul, 
he apprehended Jesus hj faith the moment he was appre- 
hended of Him by grace, and at once renounced all he had 
counted gain after the flesh without Christ ; and then, in 
pressing toward the mark for the prize of his high calling, 
he forgets all that is behind, reaching forth in living hope 
unto those things which are before, and has already his 
*' conversation in heaven, from whence also we look for the 
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ ; " and unto Him he lived 
with that devoted love, wherein the Christian's future 
heavenly likeness of Christ has its present beginning on 
earth ; and he was a man also in love, heroically sacrificing 
himself for the good of his brethren. — Faith, hope, love, 
these three, in their threefold oneness, stood continually 
before the eyes of his mind, (Eph. i. 15, 18 ; Phil. i. 9, &c. ; 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 99 

Col. i. 4, 23 ; 1 Thess. i. 3, v. 8 ; 2 Thess. i. 3 ; Tit. i. 1, 
&c. ; Heb. vi. 10, &c., x. 22-24.) But to see the cliarm of 
them in their combined loveliness, read the whole of his 
Epistle to the Philippians. 

We may doubtless reckon upon universal consent in 
designating Paul as " the man of faith." But against the 
merit some attach to him, when they extol his faith, Paul, 
" the servant of Jesus Christ," protests with all his might. 
They vainly imagine a Paul that will patronise their " lib- 
erty of conscience," and the acting " in good faith " accord- 
ing to their conviction ; and they absolutely will not see 
that as regards the much-loved liberty, according to which 
every one is to be saved " after his own fashion," it haply 
might be sought with heathen Gallic, but is utterly rejected 
by the minister and confessor of Jesus Christ. He only 
prizes — but that highly — man's liberation from the bond- 
age of sin unto " obedience to the faith," (Acts vi. 7 ; Eom. 
i. 5, xvi. 26 ;) and this obedience to the faith he prizes not 
as a human virtue, but as the result of the gracious power of 
God through " the gospel of Christ," (Eom. i. 16.) Faith, in 
Paul's sense of it, is the Christ-betrothed soul's wedding- 
ring, the preciousness of which lies not in the holding of 
it, but in Him that is held by it — viz., in Jesus Christ. 
"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels," not in 
mortal only, but also sinful, bodies, in which flesh and 
spirit are at continual war, "that the excellency of the 
power may be of God, and not of us," (2 Cor. iv. 7.) If 
ever a Christian man could have been tempted to rejoice in 
his devotion to Christ, as an heroic deed, which might avail 
aught before God, and deserve His praise, it must have been 
Paul ; but he allowed the truth of this word to illumine his 
path. The promise therefore is of faith, that it might be 
by grace; to the end it might be sure, (Eom. iv. 16.) To 
be saved of God by grace, not on account of faith, but 



100 ST PAUL. 

through faith, for Christ's sake, is his unvaried creed. We 
admire the heroic strength of his faith, after the manner of 
Abraham's, (Eom. iv. 18, &c.,) but nowise find in it any- 
meritorious cause of his salvation. Otherwise it had been 
the man Paul who saved himself by virtue of his faith. 
Let it rather rest thus : Paul's manliness in faith shews 
itself in his energetic passiveness to the active grace of 
God in Christ — operating upon and in him. So then, " all 
praise is ever God's, while ours is the joy." 

We now resume the thread at the great turning-point of 
Paul's life, where, in his conversion by the heavenly call, 
which made him the won of the Lord Jesus, we beheld the 
first unfolding of the productive seed of Divine grace, — an 
unfolding which stands complete before us in the Apostle's 
evangelical preaching. That Paul so preached and wrote, 
as needs he must, to make his word apostolic, the norm and 
rule of Christian doctrine, — thereunto he was inspired by 
the Spirit of God ; and he was in solemn earnest, when he 
said, " Which things also we speak, not in the words which 
man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teach- 
eth," (1 Cor. ii. 13.) Yet did he not speak like a tinkling 
cymbal giving forth the sound made on it by another, but 
like a living Christian, whose whole man — ^body, soul, and 
spirit — is constantly under the operation of Divine grace 
by the Spirit oi faith. And thus, without prejudice to the 
doctrine of Inspiration, we abide by this, that the Gospel 
Paul preaches is the testimony of his own experience. He 
has seen the crucified and risen Jesus, and He has been re- 
vealed to him as the Christ, the Son of God. In Him, 
through faith in His name, he has received — by the mouth 
of Ananias, and under his baptizing hand — the forgiveness 
of his sins, salvation, and life. Jesus Christ, therefore, is 
the sum and substance both of his own faith and of the 
faith which he preaches. Nothing he determined to know 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 101 

save Jesus Christ and Him crucified, (1 Cor. ii. 2,) true to 
the maxim : " Preach one thing, and one thing only — the 
wisdom of the Cross ! '' "V^Hien, therefore, he desires to 
sum up shortly and well the faith he preaches, he does it 
in this manner : " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth 
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God 
hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved," 
(Eom. X. 9.) 

The first knowledge Paul gained from this wisdom of the 
cross was, that he felt himself a lost and condemned 
sinner, who in no other way can possibly be saved than 
simply in that of faith in Christ. For in the light that 
issues from the Cross, — that is, from Him that hangs 
upon it, who is both David's Son and Son of God, — 
he beholds the enmity slain, even the law of command- 
ments, and peace made through the blood of His cross, 
(Eph. ii. 14-16 ; Col. i. 20.) The bitterest enmity of the 
carnal mind against God, (Eom. viii. 7,) centred in that 
of the Jews against His Christ. " When Jesus therefore 
had taken the vinegar, He said. It is finished," (John 
xix. 31.) The sia of His people, the sin of mankind here 
exhausted itself upon Him. He clean drank it out of the 
sponge of vinegar by His saving thirst ; and God's wrath 
against sinners, by reason of His holiness, is clean done 
away, and peace made, through the reconciliog blood of 
Jesus Christ, (Eom. v. 9, 10 ; Col. i. 20-22 ;) who has felt 
and borne to the utmost, even to the bitter point of being 
forsaken of God, the curse of God's wrath upon sin ; thus 
doing away— for all that believe in Him — the punishment 
of sin by bearing it Himself. This is God's atoning mercy 
through Christ, Paul's glory of faith in Christ, (Eom. v. 11 ; 
2 Cor. V. 19-21.) Because he had been chief among the per- 
secutors of Jesus, filling the vinegared sponge with the bit- 
terness of his enmity, therefore he counted himself the chief 



102 ST PAUL. 

of sinners ; but therefore also lie adored the exceeding love 
of God in Christ, with the overpowering thankfulness of a 
child of grace : " But God, who is rich in mercy, for His 
great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were 
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ ; (by- 
grace ye are saved ;) and hath raised us up together, and 
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus ; 
that in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding 
riches of His grace, in His kindness toward us through 
Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith ; 
and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God : not of 
works, lest any man should boast," (Eph. ii. 4-9.) 

"Dead in sins," so the Apostle expresses man's con- 
dition without Christ ; not sick only, but dead ; not par- 
tially corrupt, but dead. His doctrine of man's corruption 
through sin is that of a man who had thoroughly experi- 
enced that through Adam's fall man's nature has become 
so wholly corrupt, that " there is no health in us : " though 
himself had never wallowed in the mire of sin, but rather 
had from a child looked with detestation upon all heathen 
abominations. But the nobler, according to human reason, 
his moral aspirations had been, the more determinedly he 
had exerted all the strength of his natural will to attain 
unto the righteousness required by the law, — ^the more 
penetrated he was now with the conviction, that " by the 
works of the law no flesh shall be justified before God," 
(Eom. iii. 20 ; Gal. ii. 16.) His own bitter experience, 
which had abundantly proved what carnal Judaism, carried 
to the utmost stretch, was able to effect, emboldened him 
to the assertion, that by the law every mouth is stopped, 
and all the wo^M becomes guilty before God, (Eom. iii. 19.) 
By manifesting the law to Israel, God lighted up the dying 
embers of legal light still glimmering in the human heart, 
(Eom. ii. 15,) and convinced all mankind that the law's 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 103 

" Thou shalt," and " Thou shalt not/' are unable to help 
man unto life by righteousness. For in the midst of Israel 
sin abounded to the very killing of God's own Son, and it 
was so to abound, (Eom. v. 20,) that a despairing Saul 
might fall into the arms of still more abounding grace, and 
hence preach to a guilty world the redemption we have in 
Christ's blood. God's light having shined into his own 
Pharisaic darkness, (2 Cor. iv. 6,) Paul's righteousness 
by faith shines bright everywhere in the light of its an- 
tithesis to that by the law. The benefit of this lies in its 
pedagogic discipline, which he, the true Israelite, concedes 
to all nations. Two fundamental tones betoken the voice 
of this — if we may so say — Universal Apostle. The one 
is — There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, as 
regards their bondage under sin, (Eom. iii. 9,) in which all 
have been dead, and are therefore all alike — Jews as 
Gentiles — ''by nature the children of wrath," (Eph. ii. 
1-3;) and the other is — There is no difference between 
Jews and Gentiles in their obtaining God's grace, (Eom. x. 
12 ;) for all that are partakers of Abraham's faith are the 
children of promise, and are made righteous and heirs of 
eternal life, solely through faith in Jesus Christ, (Eom. iv. 
11 ; Gal. iii. 28.) As all the world is guilty before God, 
so it is also reconciled unto Him ; for '' God was in Christ 
reconciling the world unto Himself," (2 Cor. v. 19.) The 
priestly-central position of Israel for all tribes on earth 
had been the highest pride of youthful Saul ; but it was 
only when the scales fell from his Pharisaic eyes that 
Paul understood Israel's glory : Christ, who is over aU, 
God blessed for ever, as concerning the flesh, cometh of 
Israel, (Eom. ix. 5 ;) being found in fashion as a man. He 
humbled Himself, and was made under the law, (Phil. ii. 
8 ; Gal. iv. 4 ;) that the blessing of Abraham might come 
on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, (Gal. iii. 14.) In- 



104 ST PAUL. 

stead of law's partition-wall between Jew and Gentile, 
which He broke down, He now reared Israel's enlarged 
gospel-tent, lengthening her cords and strengthening her 
stakes all over the earth. Himself standing between God 
and all mankind, the all-sufi6.cient propitiation through 
faith in His blood, (Eom. iii. 25.) Or " is he the God of 
the Jews only ? " Panl asks his Hebrew brethren, " Is he 
not also of the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also," 
(Eom. iii. 29.) Through One upon all — this is the 
Apostle's spirited and cogent argument in the fifth of Eo- 
mans. His faith was truly catholic : All-prevailing sin, 
all-prevailing grace; aU-reigning death, all-reigning life; 
all -crushing condemnation, all -establishing justification. 
This was the fountain whence he drew his strength. " I 
believe, and therefore do I speak." He believed with all 
his heart that Christ's word, " It is finished," dropped 
peace on all mankind. As of one blood — ^Adam's — he 
saw aU nations of men to dwell on the face of the earth ; 
so through one blood — Christ's — he saw all mankind re- 
conciled. Of the loss of all in Adam he was sure, but — 
thanks be to God ! — as sure of the gain of all in Christ, the 
Chief and Leader of a new mankind. " For as in Adam aU 
die, even so in Christ shall aU be made alive," (1 Cor. 
XV. 22.) 

AH that are in Christ by faith. Paul must have robbed 
the inmost sanctuary of his Christian heart, had he sup- 
posed Faith to be a deed, or even the joint-deed, of man's 
" free will." The man lying in the dust before the gates 
of Damascus would have given him the He. To say that 
God's grace draws that in man, which is akin to Him, and 
that He rewards man's good- will in proportion to its yield- 
ing to such drawing, is a fable told to whitewash nature. 
Paul knows nothing of it ; but only of undeserved mercy 
shewn to him, that is, of such mercy that has no ground 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 105 

save in itself. "We feel how he gives his own flesh a death- 
blow every time that he strips man of all claim to self- 
esteem and merit before God. By faith in Christ he 
understood the history of man's redemption, from first to 
last, to be one of supremely free grace. Sure as he was 
that, while in unbelief, though of Israel, he was not heir 
to Israel's promise ; so sure he was also that the promises 
of God's word to the true Israel remained steadfast, in spite 
of the whole mass of unbelief in Israel after the flesh. He 
calls prophets and patriarchs to witness the ever and anon 
manifested principle of salvation, according to w^hich those 
are saved in whose hearts the grace of the Caller effects 
the purpose of the Chooser to the obtaining of mercy by 
receiving Faith. " I will have mercy on whom I will have 
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have 
compassion." This word spoken to Moses is precious to 
Paul ; for it shews Him who is " gracious and merciful " to 
be Himself the sole cause of His grace and mercy, to the 
exclusion of all and every merit of man's co-operation. 
Yea, the Apostle boldly proceeds to the very sharpest point 
of Scripture-proof: ''Therefore hath He mercy on whom 
He will have mercy, and whom He wiU He hardeneth;" 
and shews by the example of Pharaoh, that even the un- 
believer's wicked will is powerless against God ; but being 
hardened by resisting God's good- will, is brought to serve 
the irresistible will of his Maker. How much more, then, 
wiU God's gracious and merciful will save believers, inde- 
pendent of all preventive doing on the part of man, yea, 
unmixed with any self-acting of the human will I " So 
then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, 
but of God that sheweth mercy." Fearless of man's reason- 
ing : " Why doth He yet find fault ; for who hath resisted 
His will?" the Apostle reposes with all believers in 
the bosom of the Triune-God's eternal " love," '' where- 



106 ST PAUL. 

with/' foreknowing, forechoosing, and foreordaining, " He 
hath loved" Abraham's race in Abraham's seed, and 
Adam's race in the second Adam, — the Son of man, — ^who 
hath given Himself to become the Author of man's salva- 
tion. In Him, — the Lord Jesus, — as in the open book of 
life, Paul read his own and his brethren's names, (Phil. iv. 
3,) written before the foundation of the world, (Eph. i. 4 ;) 
and to be chosen in Him the Beloved, according to God's 
eternal purpose of love — this was the firm rock of his faith, 
which no deluge could shake, (Eom. viii. 28, &c.) But 
could an objection like the following escape the thinking 
Paul ? If salvation is not of him that wiUeth, nor of hiTn 
that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy, there can be 
but these two alternatives : Either God will have mercy 
on aU, and work in their hearts faith to receive His grace ; 
and then all men must finally be saved, by reason of His 
irresistible will ; or God wiU have mercy only on some, on 
others not; works therefore faith in some, and hardens 
others in unbelief, according to the absolute will of His 
choice ; and then Christ is not the Mediator and Eedeemer 
of all ; and God is not all Light and love, but there is dark- 
ness and imlove in Him ? Surely Paul needed no one to 
usher up such syllogisms to his mind, as he wrote Eom. ix. 
But bold and fearless as he is in pondering over the re- 
vealed ways and judgments of God, he is no less so in sub- 
duing, yea, in crushing his own reason, where it seeks to 
darken and unsettle Christ, — God in Christ, — as revealed 
to us in His Word and work. Predestination to him is a 
Divine mystery full of comfort and assurance to faith. But 
both the system of the would-be wise, who desire to make 
God the slave of His own decrees, and degrade man to a 
machine in the world's great workshop, and the sinister 
artfulness of the work-proud, who, by their "necessary 
consequences " from it, seek to lead that apostolic doctrine 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 107 

to an absurd result, Paul, tlie man of faith, crushes in 
one blow, by saying, ''We bring into captivity every 
thought to the obedience of Christ," (2 Cor. x. 5.) He can 
bear not to know the solution of these mysteries ; in man 
the ability not to will, with the inability to will ; and in 
God the will that aU men shall be saved, with the will 
that " he that believeth not shall be damned." He can 
rejoice and praise God, who in mercy hath fastened in 
his life '' a nail in a sure place," to which he knows him- 
self securely fixed, according to God's eternal purpose of 
his choice in Christ ; and he checks every forward thought 
of a twofold, coeternal purpose in God foredetermining 
the lot of each individual, either to the right hand or left. 
Instead of speculating, he adores, (Eom. xi. 33-36.) 

Paul knows the All-merciful to be the righteous Judge, 
(2 Tim. iv. 8.) Drawn before His judgment-seat, and 
witnessed against by His accusing law, he has heard the 
sentence, " Thou art guilty of death ; " but he has also 
seen the Surety, "who has blotted out the handwriting 
against him, and nailed it to the cross," (Col. ii. 14.) With 
him justification and the forgiveness of sin are essentially 
one, (Eom. iv. 6-8,) and mercy's full reprieve is sure to 
him, because it is the righteous Judge, who pronounces the 
sentence of grace. " We are," he writes in that cardinal 
passage of the Eomans, ''justified freely by His grace, 
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ; whom God 
hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His 
blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of 
sins that are past; to declare, I say, at this time His 
righteousness ; that He might be just, and the justifier of 
him which believeth in Jesus," (Eom. iii. 24-26.) " Sin 
could not unrevenged remain. Its sentence had been long 
declared, And executed it must one day be Here on this 
wicked earth. What sin was, and what long it had de- 



108 ST PAUL. 

served, God would bear witness ; and in man's redemption 
He broke His silence, shewing wrath severe." These lines 
of Freylinghausen exactly hit Paul's meaning. That our 
God is a consuming iire, (Heb. xii. 29,) was by no means 
stripped off his creed, as an antiquated Jewish notion, but 
was only rightly understood by him in the light of Christ's 
cross. Therefore he has nothing to do with the effeminate 
or light-minded, who fancy themselves free from God's 
wrath, and call the dreams of their imagination faith. The 
rock, whereon his faith was founded, is Christ and His 
blood ; and the righteousness by faith, wherein he boldly 
appeared before God, is purely and entirely a gift of grace 
(Eom. V. 17) purchased by Christ's obedience and satis- 
faction. Here, in the matter of justification, he has learnt 
what faith is — viz., the heart's mouth opened by Divine 
grace to receive into it Jesus Christ, and all the treasures 
of His merits purchased for us by His blood. Imputed, 
and therefore complete, is the righteousness faith has in 
Him, (Eom. iv. 3, &c. ; Phil. iii. 9.) 'Not unto us, but unto 
Christ in our stead, hath God imputed our sins, (2 Cor. v. 
19-21,) and hath condemned sin in the flesh of His own 
Son, (Eom. viii. 3,) in order that both righteously and 
graciously He might, by a gospel-declaration, impute us 
Christ's righteousness. Luther's precious word "alone" 
in Eom. iii. 28, though it does not stand there in Greek 
letters, yet stands clear and bright in Paul's heart : By faith 
alone. All works of the law, be they ''preventing" or 
*' accompanying ; " yea, and all of the soul's renewed will, 
be they " co-operating " or " following," — in short, all works 
Paul will have utterly excluded from the gracious act of 
the sinner's justification. The " gift of righteousness " is 
to be by faith alone. Each and every addition of work to 
faith is a poison to faith. Grace the giver, faith the re- 
ceiver : this is Paul's mind and doctrine. Grace will reign 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 109 

supreme, or not at all ; will be received by faith alone, or 
remain at a distance. Tlie light of the Sun of Grace is so 
delicate, so pure and transparent, that it can bear no mix- 
ture with the slightest glare of a strange fire ; yea, the re- 
flection even of her own brightness (" faith of itself gives 
forth the shine,") she will not bear being mixed with her- 
self, where the shadeless brightness and spotless purity is 
concerned, in which the sinner is to stand righteous before 
God, (Eom. xi. 6.) 

" The prison we were sitting in, gnawing our hearts with 
sorrow clean, is burst in twain, and we are free ! " (cf Ps. 
cxxiv. 7.) Such rejoicing of grace's freed children Paul 
taught us, when by faith he had broken through the prison 
of sin and the law into the open liberty of the Gospel. 
Very aptly does the church, on ''Lsetare" Sunday, read 
the word : " So then, brethren, we are not children of the 
bondwoman, but of the free," (Gal. iv. 31.) St Paul is in- 
exhaustible in his praise of the liberty of the righteous by 
faith, the substance of which he pronounces to be — free- 
dom from the law. And a dearly-purchased freedom this 
is. For to be freed from its durance by Divine right, we 
had to get our divorce from it by death ; and this has been 
accomplished in a twofold way : The husband to whom 
we were bound, even the law, was killed when its condem- 
natory sting was broken in the broken body of the flesh 
of our blessed Saviour, and by reason of this we also, who 
are of the faith of Jesus, have become dead unto the law, 
to live unto another — viz., to Him who is raised from the 
dead, (Rom. vii. 1, &c.; 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.) "Through the 
law I am dead to the law " — thus rejoices the living Paul, 
(Gal. ii. 19.) As "crucified with Christ" he is dead 
through the law, because the law's curse has been borne 
and discharged by Him, who " hanged on a tree," (Gal. iii. 
13 ;) and dead to the law, because its condemnation hav- 



110 ST PAUL. 

ing been exhausted upon Christ, those who are baptized 
into His death are thereby freed from the law, and live by 
faith in Christ, and nnto Him, (Eom. vi. 3-11.) "The 
law is not made for a righteous man," (1 Tim. i. 9.) But 
Paul's liberty from ''the yoke of bondage," (Gal. v. 1,) is 
not all told by saying that it is the freedom from law's 
curse and constraint. It is both this ; for from its curse 
we are redeemed by Christ's all-sufiicient satisfaction for 
us, and from its constraint we are delivered by Christ's 
Spirit in us, who frees our will, and causes us to " delight 
in the law of God after the inward man." But it is more 
still. We are freed also from " the law of commandments 
contained in ordinances," (Eph. ii. 15.) Through its being 
inscribed by the Spirit into the hearts of believers, they 
obey God, not by constraint of the obligatory letter, but 
by that of the spirit of liberty, (2 Cor. iii. 17,) as His chil- 
dren, (Gal. iv. 5, 6.) In striking contrast with the " spirit 
of bondage," Paul views the " Spirit of adoption," (Eom. 
viii. 15.) Now we shall understand the holy wrath, 
wherewith this manly Paul faces the false brethren, who 
want to bring again under the yoke of bondage the free- 
men of Jesus Christ, (Gal. ii. 4, 5.) The truth of the Gos- 
pel remains with them only, who through faith "stand 
fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." 

" What then ? shaU we sin, because we are not under 
the law, but under grace ? " (Eom. vi. 15.) Eight weU 
did Paul know this question. His old man — Saul the 
Pharisee — must doubtless often have stoutly equipped 
himself with it against the doctrine of the ISTazarene. But 
what Paul's graceful disciple, Augustine, thus expresses : 
" Servitium Domini summa libertas," — the Lord's service 
is the highest liberty, — is spoken after the very heart of 
his great teacher. Emphatically the Apostle calls himself 
the servant of Jesus Christ ; and the servants of righteous- 



THE MAN OF FAITH. Ill 

ness are those over whom sin can reign no more, because 
they are not under the law, but under grace. The being 
kept under the law, (Gal. iii. 23,) certainly leads to the 
knowledge of sin, yea, and to the ever-increasing strength 
of its hard-felt sway, but never to a breach with it and its 
power. Terribly kill the law can, but never raise the 
dead to life. It can pour into the heart of man neither 
the love of good it commands, nor the hate to evil it en- 
joins. But what the Law cannot do Grace can do. With 
an indignant " God forbid ! " Paul scorns away the ques- 
tion, "Shall we sin?" and shews to his brethren how 
faith makes God's children to be the servants of righteous- 
ness unto holiness. Eight solidly he speaks in calling all 
that are freed from the law of sin the bondsmen of right- 
eousness. And as to faith alone he attributes the grace of 
justification, so also with equal decidedness does he ascribe 
to it the works of true righteousness in the spiritual life 
of those that are justified by it. " Yea, we establish the 
law," (Eom. iii. 31,) says the preacher of faith. It could 
not establish itself, but it is established through faith — in 
those that walk after the rule : " We will fear and love 
God, that we may keep His commandments;" in the ser- 
vants of righteousness — who experience Christ to be the 
end of the law also in this sense, " that the righteousness 
of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the 
flesh, but after the Spirit," (Eom. viii. 4.) Paul's own life 
is the best refutation of the foolish assertion, that his doc- 
trine tends to Antinomianism. Behold ! what a life was that 
of which he says : " I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in 
me : and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by 
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Him- 
self for me," (Gal. ii. 20.) " Brethren, be followers together 
of me ; " thus he dared to exhort his Philippians, (Phil. iii. 
17,) whom he wished to be " filled with the fruits of right- 



112 ST PAUL. 

eoTisness, wMch. are by Jesus Christ unto tlie glory and 
praise of God/' (PML i. 11.) 

And whereby does grace accomplish the work, which in 
Paul stands so prominently before our eyes? Whereby 
did this Apostle of Jesus Christ bring to the congregation 
of saints world-intoxicated Corinthians, Satan-bound Ephe- 
sians, and frivolous Eomans ? As he had himself received 
salvation, so he communicated it. Not all indeed are 
apostles, therefore he refers no one to revelations direct 
from heaven ; but all are sinners, like him, and redeemed 
like him, and in the same way in which he himself became 
partaker of Christ — viz., by the preaching of the Word and 
administering of the Sacrament all shall be saved through 
faith. " Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word 
of God," (Eom. x. 17.) The word of God is pervaded by 
the Spirit of God, and filled with " the power of God unto 
salvation ; " whether through oral preaching it first reach 
the comprehending sense, or first seize by sacramental sign 
the bodily senses — that the voice, this the kiss, so to speak, 
of the Spirit. Everywhere the Apostle fastens the Chris- 
tian's consolation of faith and vigour of life to the creating 
and preserving word of God's Spirit, which both audibly 
and visibly, in voice and sacrament, is dispensed in the 
Church of Christ. Eeconciliation, word of reconciliation 
and ministry of reconciliation, (2 Cor. v. 18, &c. ;) faith and 
baptism, (Eph. iv. 5; GaL iii. 26, 27;) washing of regene- 
ration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, (Tit. iii. 5 ;) the 
hearing of faith and receiving of the Spirit, (Gal. iii. 2 ;) all 
these he joins intimately together, and in that beautiful 
passage, where he makes the faith of righteousness speak 
Moses' words, which in her mouth become evangelical, 
he especially adores Christ's reachable nearness to faith, 
as being present in the Word, (Eom. x. 6, &c.) God 
the Holy Ghost he sees personally at work in sanctifying 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 113 

believers, (2 Cor. iii. 17, 18,) and to His witness lie ascribes 
the assurance of our adoption as God's children, (Eom. viii. 
16.) But not from the store of his " Christian conscious- 
ness," or such like subjectivities, did Paul take the witness 
of the Holy Ghost, but from the Gospel spoken through the 
ear into his heart, in the name of Jesus : " Thy sins are for- 
given thee." This absolution came to him, and comes to 
all that are baptized into Christ's death (Eom. vi. 3, &c.) 
through the service of the Church, to which the exalted 
Christ in heaven has committed the means of grace, 
and the ofi&ce, by preaching and administering of the sacra- 
ments, to communicate the Holy Ghost,* " who daily and 
richly forgiveth mine and aU believers' sins ; and, by this 
very forgiveness, beareth witness with my spirit that I am 
God's child and heir." Do I receive such witness by faith? 
I am ''sealed," (Eph. i. 13 ;) or, as Luther says, ''my ex- 
perience agreeth with the preached word." Paul lived after 
the order given by the Lord to him, — " Arise, and go into 
the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do," 
(Acts ix. 6,) — and has taught all men there to look for the 
grace of Jesus Christ, where He has put the memorial of 
His name ; as it is written, " How beautiful are the feet of 
them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tid- 
ings of good things," (Eom. x. 15.) 

Paul's faith is grounded on God's Word : " So then faith 
Cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God," 
(Eom. x. 17.) The Word of God which he had heard in the 
Lord's voice from heaven, and through the witness of His 
Church on earth, he found again in the voice and testimony 

* I trust it will meet the author's sense, if we modify this expression by 
saying, " The Holy Ghost is pleased to communicate Himself (ordinarily) 
through these means;" for so we find it ever where the apostles themselves 
were the dispensers of them, (Acts x. 4, xix. 6.) Only Christ could say, 
" Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and " Thy sins be forgiven thee.'' — T^, 

H 



114 ST PAUL. 

of the same Spirit in Scripture ; and richly did his preach- 
ing, as his hearing, come by the Word of God. Because he 
knew and understood the Church of Christ to be the un- 
veiled Israel, the Church's King and Head to be the pro- 
mised son of David, and the crucified and risen Eedeemer 
to be the real mercy-seat and true Paschal Lamb ; therefore 
he could testify before Agrippa that he " witnessed to both 
small and great, saying none other things than those which 
the prophets and Moses did say should come," (Acts xxvi. 
22.) " According to the Scriptures " — herewith he seals his 
delivery of the heaven-received Gospel, (1 Cor. xv. 3, &c.) 
Who knows not that Paul, in searching the Scriptures, is 
a very pearl-fisher, a true digger after hidden treasures ? 
He found, and he has delivered to us, the key to all the 
Scriptures. Luther draws attention to the fact, that in the 
very Epistle (that to the Eomans) which is addressed to a 
congregation gathered mainly from the Gentiles, the pro- 
phetic word, from beginning to end, runs provingly parallel 
to the apostolic : " Therefore it seemeth as if St Paul in this 
epistle had wanted for once to compose a manual of the 
whole Christian and evangelic doctrine, and an introduc- 
tion into the whole Old Testament. For doubtless he who 
hath this epistle well in his heart, hath in it also the light 
and power of the Old Testament.'' The theme and main 
topic of this epistle he confirms with Habakkuk's prophecy, 
"The just shall live by faith," (Eev. i. 17,) from which he 
unfolds all the Gospel's richest treasures. By Abraham's 
example he illustrates the righteousness of faith as given 
by imputation, (Eom. iv. ;) and the sacred window in the 
evangelical edifice, through which we look into the mystery 
of predestination, he frames round about with the prophetic 
word, (Eom. ix.-xi.;) nor when tre*ating of the "new com- 
mandment" of love does he think that he can do it better, 
or speak of it more according to the Spirit, than by addu- 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 115 

cing a prophetic word, (Eom. xii. 19, 20.) He puts Christ 
before us, as our example in patience, by quoting a word 
from the Psalms, (Ps. Ixix. 9 ; Eom. xv. 3,) and then adds, 
(ver. 4,) "For whatsoever things were written aforetime 
were written for our learning; that we, through patience and 
comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope." Yea, truly 
saturated with " comfort of the Scriptures" is his faith ; for 
so he understood them — after the veil was taken from his 
eyes — that their end and fulfilment is Jesus Christ. Does 
he view in the light of Holy Writ God's judgments and way 
of salvation, past, present, and future? (as in Acts xiii., and 
1 Cor. X. ;) or gather God's accusations against sinners from 
the law and its expounders, the prophets ? (as in Eom. iii. ;) 
or bind bundles of evangelical comfort out of several 
prophetic passages together? (as in Eom. xi. 26, &c. ; and 1 
Cor. XV. 54, 55 ; and especially 2 Cor. vi. 16-18.) Always 
we see him regard Scripture with reverence, as a sacred 
whole that cannot be broken, (John x. 35,) and seize it as 
the sword of the Spirit, (Eph. vi. 17.) "And he doth so," 
says Luther, " after the manner of his own rich spirit, by 
smelting a number of passages in one heap, and moulding 
a text from it, such as bears the sense of the whole Scrip- 
ture." The " perpetual statute " * of every word that ever 
proceeded from the mouth of God he found laid up in 
store — that is to say, raised and promoted from prediction 
to fulfilment, unclad of its earthly tabernacle, advanced to 
heavenly substance, (Heb. viii. 5,) securely preserved in 
Christ. Thus the Apostle of the Gentiles put them in pos- 
session of Israel's advantage in possessing " the oracles of 

* A rather abstruse sentence this. I should think the author must mean 
that the Apostle looked upon every word of God, though apparently hnt ap- 
plying to a gone-by or going-by time, as abiding the same for ever, while 
undergoing the different phases from prediction to fulfilment, from shadow 
to substance ; all being fulfilled and come to substance in Christ. — Tb. 



116 ST PAUL. 

God,"* (Eom. iii. 1, 2.) To the unbelieving Jews the Bible 
has become a sealed book, (Acts xiii. 27.) In Christ it is 
opened, and speaks in His Church. " God speaketh in His 
sanctuary, thereof I am glad," (Ps. cviii. 7, Luther's transl.) 
The Scripture " saith." And the disciples of the apostolic 
word gladly sit down with Timothy at the feet of Moses 
and the prophets, in order to test the truth of Paul's boast 
of the Scriptures, " Continue thou in the things which thou 
hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom 
thou hast learned them ; and that from a child thou hast 
known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee 
wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profit- 
able for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction 
in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, 
throughly furnished unto all good works," (2 Tim. iii. 

14-17.) 

But it is in the centre of his Epistle to the Eomans that 
we see to perfection the picture of " the man of faith," in 
his lament in the 7th and in his triumph in the 8th chap- 
ter. Dead to sin, freed from the law, a servant to right- 
eousness, devoted to God's service in newness of the Spirit, 
made alive from the dead — does all this mean that the re- 
newed Christian is sinless, no more carnal, but completely 
spiritual, affected by the law no more than the angels that 
do God's will in heaven, and touched by death no more 
than the spirits of the just made perfect, who have done 
with death and all below ? Ah ! did it mean this, and had 

* As Jewisli scribe already Saul had become familiar with the Hebrew 
original of the Old Testament. Yet St Paul generally makes use of the 
oflacial Greek translation, (Septuagint,) because it suited the Gentiles, and 
had recourse to the Hebrew text only where it was needful or useful. The 
wisdom of a father, not the interest of a scholastic^ guided the interpreter 
of Scripture. 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 117 

Paul deemed himself such a saint, then he were not the 
man of faith he is, and his picture were frightful like a 
spectre. But our evangelical Saint is comforting and edi- 
fying to behold by his fellow-sinners and fellow-saints, to 
whom there is no condemnation, because they are in Christ 
Jesus by faith. 

He that exhorts his brethren to foUow him in the way 
of holiness would not have them ignorant that faith in the 
forgiveness of sin was, and ever would be, his sole comfort, 
not only in regard to his past life without Christ, but also 
in his present with and in Him. He had put on the Lord 
Jesus Christ; and being sanctified by the gracious act of 
justification and regeneration, he was "led of the Spirit," 
and no longer ''under the law," (Gal. v. 18.) Having be- 
come conformable and, as it were, akin to the law of the 
Spirit, he now found in himself, what in his unregenerate 
state he had never found, that he had a " delight in the law 
of God after the inward man," and could now look upon it 
with a clear, unevil eye. That " the statutes of the Lord 
are right " he had learnt from his youth, but that " they con- 
vert the soul and rejoice the heart," (Ps. xix. 7, 8,) he only 
learnt to know in Christ ; and therefore felt constrained to 
defend the law, as holy, just, and good, against the miscon- 
ception of his evangelical doctrine and teaching, as though 
the law were the cause of man's corruption, which it only 
brings to light. Yet he would have spoken untruth, if by 
the expressions ''it slew me," " and I died," he had meant 
to represent the deadly effects of the law, as once for all 
completed in his past experience. Therewith he would 
have shut himself out from the experience of all his breth- 
ren, who, though become dead to both, still feel the law, as 
still they feel sin, and cry " Woe !" under it. But, on the 
contrary, he says, " We know that the law is spiritual, but 
I am carnal, sold under sin." Por this ''hut I" we will 



118 ST PAUL. 

kiss Paul's hand. The same trials and temptations, against 
which other Christian men lie in the field, — "I 'gainst 
myself in deadly combat lie/' — passed over this greatly 
honoured servant of Christ. He whose faith we desire to 
follow strengthens our soul by the spiritual gift of his open 
confession, that as renewed Christian the conflict between 
flesh and spirit was still his daily experience. The smart 
of the killing letter therefore was not obsolete, and the use 
of the law, as working knowledge of sin, no antiquated 
thing with him. The preacher of liberty from the law 
never was, nor could be, an Antinomian, because he was 
far from the anti-scriptural notion of having no more sin. 
What in Gal. v. 17 he thus expresses, "The flesh lusteth 
against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and 
these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot 
do the things that ye would," is the same confession he 
makes in Eom. vii. Only by daily conflict did he pass to 
daily victory ; and his sigh under the deep smart of sin and 
death — '' Oh, wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver 
me from the body of this death ? " — ^was as much the expres- 
sion of his present experience, as the triumph of faith by 
which it is followed, " I thank God through Jesus Christ 
our Lord." To his great comfort he knew that it was the 
Lord Jesus who would judge him, (1 Cor. iv. 3-5 ;) for even 
where he might be unconscious of wrong, f' I know nothing 
by myself,") he could not deem himself justified, because 
he had to distrust the sentence of his own conscience, as 
biased by the flesh. Yet not only for his '' secret faults " 
did he need Christ's daily free forgiveness, but he declares, 
" I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good 
thing : for to will is present with me, but how to perform 
that which I would I find not." Thus speaks the man to 
whose holy life we look up with reverent marvel. He does 
not say that once there dwelt no good thing in his flesh ; 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 119 

nor does lie mean to say that, irrespective of renewing grace, 
there dwelt no good in him. He does not reserve the 
thought, that now indeed he was doing something good be- 
fore God, but that this had not grown on the soil of his 
old, but of his new inner man, and was therefore the work 
of his renewed nature by grace. No ; of his own concrete 
" I " he speaks, who has to acknowledge the flesh as his 
flesh, and the whole inheritance from Adam as his inherit- 
ance. Of this his sinful flesh, wherein neither ever dwelt, 
nor now dwells, any good thing, he declares that it hinders 
him — the renewed Christian — in the performance of the 
good which he " would " do. So as with ardent desire he 
sought to do it, so as it must be done to render man right- 
eous before God, from pure delight in obedience, ever dis- 
posed to do God's will, and yet never incKned to seek 
himself in so doing — in short, as Christ the Just One did 
that which is good : so Paul never did any one out of 
his many good works. So soon as the slightest thought of 
self-satisfaction over any done work rose in his mind, 
though disguised to indiscernibleness by heartfelt thanks 
to God for his given strength, lo ! the commandment would 
stand at the door, and say, "Thou shalt not covet;" and 
thus again all was over with his life by the law, '' In great 
things it sufiiceth to will them," and most of all in that 
which is the greatest thing — viz., holiness. But Paul's cer- 
tainly was no feeble, impotent willing that which is good, 
after the manner of "good resolves," which ever and anon 
the law exacts even from unbelievers. No ; his life bears 
other witness ! Yet the saint who saw the crown of right- 
eousness laid up for his martyred head falls low at the feet 
of the righteous Judge, and confesses that by the law giving 
life only to its fulfillers he ought to be condemned to death, 
but seizes upon the faithful saying, worthy of all accepta- 
tion, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, 



120 ST PAUL. 

" of whom I am chief" — not was, but '' am" (1 Tim. i. 15.) 
Paul submitted, though not without a groan, to the 
wretched lot of a never-ceasing, but ever-harassing, war 
against sin, which — as a robber and rebel against the new 
man in Christ — continued to dwell in his flesh. To break 
the iron " law " of contradiction between willing and doing 
by keeping under his body, in which he certainly was no 
weakling, (1 Cor. ix. 27,) or to purchase a truce with sin 
by any ''voluntary humility," this he never deemed the 
work of a Christian man. The law of God which he loved, 
and the law of sin which he hated — the echoing ''Yes " of 
the inner man to the law in his mind, and Satan's other 
law in his members, that brought him into captivity to the 
law of sin — this feeling of unceasing discord within him 
made him exclaim, " Oh, wretched man that I am ! who 
shall deliver me from the body of this death ? " But he 
went on with " cleansing himself from all filthiness of the 
flesh and spirit," with "bringing his body into subjection," 
with " crucifying the flesh with the affections and lusts, " 
with " yielding his members as instruments of righteous- 
ness unto God;" in fine, with "perfecting holiness in the 
fear of God," (2 Cor. vii. 1.) Moreover, he daily experi- 
enced that he needed such " going on," as one who had 
not already attained, neither was already perfect, (Phil. iii. 
12;) and that, because the "law" in his members went 
on with warring and bringing into captivity to the hated 
service of sin. "So then, with the mind I myself serve 
the law of God ; but with the flesh the law of sin." There 
the willing service of joy and liberty, here the compulsory 
service of a hated villanage. 

But, imprisoned as yet he was in the body of this death, 
Paul could sing of deliverance by faith : " I thank God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord." In one breath he grieves 
and joys ; but the Christian joy got the mastery over the 



THE MAN OF FAITH. , 121 

Cliristian sorrow, because tlie spirit triumphed over the 
flesh. Being found by faith in Christ, and having pardon 
and acceptance, life and righteousness, conferred by Him, 
he knows himself free from condemnation, under which 
unbehevers are held by the law of sin and death. By the 
indwelling of the Spirit of Christ he knows himself con- 
queror ; in His strength he can renounce the sensual law 
in his flesh, and become heartily subject to the spiritual 
law of God ; to his mortal body, also, he knows that resur- 
rection and life are secured in Christ. Here, in Eom. viii., 
he changes his mournful ''I" into a joyful "We" and 
" You." The Christian's woe of sin he has taken on him- 
seK; who dares to plead exemption? The Christian's 
glory he awards to all his brethren in Christ. Finally, 
after having described the work of the Holy Spirit in be- 
lievers, and His first-fruits in their hearts, the Spirit's guid- 
ance and witness. His adoption and glorious liberty. His 
expectant hope and comfort under all sufferings of this 
present time, ending in that song of triumph, the very 
kernel of the Gospel-nut, " In all these things we are 
more than conquerors ; '' he boldly throws the gauntlet of 
faith at the feet of all powers in heaven and earth, as 
impotent to separate him from Christ ; and with the fullest 
assurance of final salvation, wherein he was kept to the 
end, (2 Tim. i. 12,) he exclaims, *' I am persuaded, that 
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." Because he believed, therefore he spoke. His 
triumphant joy, and the ground of his "more than con- 
queror's" assurance was Christ, and Christ alone. Upon 
" God that cannot He" he knew himself thrown for the 
hope of eternal life, (Tit. i. 2.) " God is faithful" was his 



122 ST PAUL. 

motto for himself and his brethren, with whom he was 
called unto the fellowship of the Son of God, Jesus Christ 
our Lord, (1 Cor. i. 9 ; 1 Thess. v. 24.) Because he lived 
through grace by faith in Christ, and ever continued in 
holy dread lest he should trespass against the operation of 
the Spirit by applying fragments of His workmanship to 
the building up again of a legal righteousness, (Gal. ii. 
16-21 ;) therefore he could be so sure of his salvation, and 
free of all doubt to be " without blame before God in love," 
being "accepted in the Beloved," (Eph. i. 3-7.) Down- 
wards and upwards led his Christian path : down into the 
deep, where the penitential psalms — these songs, not of 
the wicked, but of the pious— are experienced ; up to the 
height, where the psalms of joy — the songs not of angels, 
but of the just, living by faith — resound. Blessed be '* the 
man of faith," who strengthens his brethren, where he 
mourns in the deep, where he joys in the height ! 

*' In my heart," says Luther, " reigns and shall reign this 
one article alone : faith in my dear Lord Jesus Christ, 
who of all my spiritual and godly thoughts, that ever day 
or night I may have, is the one only beginning, middle, 
and end. And yet I find, that of the breadth, and length, 
and depth, and height of this unbounded, incomprehens- 
ible, and infinite wisdom, I scarcely reach a very weak 
and mean beginning, and can hardly bring to light a few 
small crumbs out of this richest and all-precious mine of 
gold." Therefore Scripture has given Hope as a com- 
panion of Faith, stretching forth her eye to that which is 
perfect and to come, (1 Cor. xiii. 10.) 

'* Paul's rock of faith was Christ alone, 

A trusty shield and weapon, 

Who helps us from His heav'nly throne 

'Gainst ev'ry ill may happen. 

That old malicious foe 

Intends us deadly woe, 



THE MAN OF FAITH. 123 

Arm'd with the strength of hell, 

And deepest craft as well ; 
On earth is not his equal. 

Of our own strength we nothing can, 

Straight were we lost for ever ; 
But for us fights the Son of man, 
By God sent to deliver. 
Ask ye who this may be ? 
Christ Jesus named is He, 
Of Sabaoth the Lord, 
Sole God to be adored; 
'Tis He must win the battle." 



VIII. 
THE MAN OF HOPE. 

"And for an helmet, the hope of salvation." — 1 Thess. v. 8. 

Like a warrior decorated with his helmet, which shields 
his head from the stroke of his adversary, so Paul stands 
there clad in rich attire, and "rejoicing in hope of the 
glory of God," (Eom. v. 2,) by which he is armed against 
every ''no," wherewith Satan defies ''the armies of the 
living God," and wherewith things visible and temporal 
ever seek to oppose the Christian, or to withdraw him 
from the promises of God. Luther used to call the hope 
of faith "man's brave heart," and compares the indis- 
soluble pair to the two cherubim upon the mercy-seat. 
" We are saved by hope," (Eom. viii. 24,) that is, by faith 
in hope. The salvation we have in Christ we can taste 
and enjoy on earth only in hope. As in faith, so in hope, 
Paul "warred a good warfare." Eight fitly he is es- 
cutcheoned with the sword. 

As his preaching and life of faith, so his joy and rejoic- 
ing in hope is the bright reflex of his heavenly call, a 
green branch out of the root of experienced grace. Visibly 
did the glory of " the second man, the Lord from heaven," 
(1 Cor. XV. 47,) " shine round about him." But as on the 
mount of Olives, when the Lord, " while they beheld," was 
taken up to heaven, and received by a cloud out of their 
sight, the disciples saw no other light henceforth than that 
of His word, illuminated by the angel's message, (Acts 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 125 

i. 9-11 ;) so did Paul, over his baptism in tlie house of 
Judas at Damascus, see no other light than that of Christ's 
word spoken to him by the mouth of Ananias. Thus he 
was prepared to testify that Jesus Christ, sitting on God's 
right hand, and "hid in God," (Col. iii. 1-4,) manifests 
Himself on earth to faith in His word and sacrament, that 
Hope, with the eyes of Simeon, beholding his Saviour 
through the babe's swaddling-clothes, might, through the 
unveiled veils of the visible means of grace, stretch forth 
her keen eye unto the heirship of eternal life, (Tit. iii. 7^ 
As his blessed Saviour, "the Lord of glory," (1 Cor. ii. 8,) 
had suffered Himself to be persecuted in His poor saints 
by Saul, so Paul was prepared for a life of tribulation ; 
but as his heavenly Master, "for the joy that was set 
before Him, endured the cross," (Heb. xii. 2,) so Paul, in 
hope's anticipation of future bliss with Christ, " reckoned 
the sufferings of this present time as not worthy to be 
compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us," 
(Eom. viii. 18.) On the other hand, his confession was, 
" If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all 
men most miserable," (1 Cor. xv. 19.) Israel's King has 
" endured the cross, and is exalted to His heavenly throne, 
our great High Priest has completed the sacrifice of Him- 
self," and has entered into His heavenly sanctuary ; Israel's 
Prophet has " preached the kingdom of heaven," and now 
makes Himself heard through His Spirit in the Church 
of the Spirit. Hence Paul was constrained to bear witness 
of Israel's hope of glory, as already fulfilled in Christ, and 
which, on the day of His glorious appearing, will be ac- 
complished also in His believing people ; while the fleshly, 
exanimate Israel is still pursuing the phantom of her fore- 
shadowed glory. (This is the sum and substance of the 
Epistle to the Hebrews. *) " Crucified through weakness," 
* See note, p. 95.— Tr. 



126 ST PAUL. 

— viz., " in the likeness of sinful flesh," — Christ now ever 
"liveth by the power of God," (2 Cor. xiii. 4.) Therefore 
Paul set all things that "might have been gain" on 
"knowing Him, and the power of His resurrection, and 
the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable 
unto His death ; if by any means he might attain unto the 
resurrection of the dead," (Phil. iii. 10, 11.) "As sorrow- 
ful" in the world and in the flesh, "yet always rejoicing," 
(2 Cor. vi. 10,) because "rejoicing in hope;" this is the 
Christian's calling and enviable lot, (Eom. xii. 12.) 

" Jesus Christ is our hope," he writes to Timothy, (1 
Tim. i. 1,) and before the Colossians he unfolds the heavenly 
"riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;" 
and then, gathering all its treasure into a golden nutshell, 
he extols its incalculable value to them in these words : 
"which [mystery] is Christ in you, the hope of glory," 
(Col. i. 27.) Everjrwhere the Apostle manifests his glad- 
some confidence that the Church of Christ, though hoping 
for His glorious reappearing, yet enjoys through all time 
His gracious presence on earth ; for He has said, " Lo, I 
am with ;^ou alway, even unto the end of the world." 
Therefore he hopes for no future glory which is not pledged 
and sealed to believers by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in 
them. *' Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," 
(2 Cor. iii. 17.) Thus we are freed from the bondage of 
corruption, while looking for the glorious liberty of the 
children of God ; and having the " first-fruits of the Spirit," 
we wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our 
body, (Eom. viii. 21, 23,) a confession of hope both humble 
and bold. No less than St John is Paul penetrated with 
the idea of the present reality of eternal life to and in 
Christ's believing people. The mind of them both is ex- 
pressed in these words (of A. H. Prancke :) — 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 127 

" Farewell, what 's called day and year. 
Eternity is round me here ; 
Because I live in Jesus." 

To express what a Christian man has and is in Christ, 
St Paul is particularly fond of the words "riches," "per- 
fection," "fulness." Sevenfold in one sentence he pours 
forth his praise of the all-sufficient and all-abounding 
riches of God's grace, (2 Cor. ix. 8.) To be "filled with all 
the fulness of God," is his prayer for the faithful in Christ 
Jesus at Ephesus, (2 Cor. iii. 19.) To "present every man 
perfect in Christ Jesus," thereunto he laboured, striving 
according to His working, which worked in him mightily, 
(Col. i. 28, 29.) But as humbly as St John confesses, 
" Behold, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet 
appear what we shall be," (1 John iii. 2,) does he feel 
reconciled to the veiled state of expectant hope, wherein 
the life and salvation of believers is yet hid ; although as 
ardent in anticipation he already calls them "the first- 
fruits of the Spirit." As the first sheaves of the harvest 
in the holy land were offered to the Lord for a wave-offer- 
ing in token that the entire harvest was due to Him as a 
thank-offering; so we, who are the Israel of the Gospel, 
go on boldly waving the Spirit's first-fruits to and fro, to 
aU ends of the earth, and up to heaven, when we sing and 
say, '' Here all sins forgiven are." * He that by faith 
enjoys and confesses this *' good of the land," (Isa. i. 19,) 
— to wit, of the Christian Church, — possesses in this one 
royal gift of the Spirit the entire inheritance of promise in 
hope; and, putting under foot death and the grave, can 
triumphantly exclaim, "My flesh too shall live again. 
This life past, there is for me a life throughout eternity. 
Amen." 

Is Jesus Christ the hope of believers ? then all God's 
* Lofty ! but dark to me.— Te. 



128 ST PAUL. 

promises in Him are Yea and Amen, — " nnto the glory of 
God by us," adds the Apostle, (2 Cor. i. 20.) " By us "— 
viz., by the evangelical ministers and witnesses of Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, (2 Cor. v. 19.) With the advent 
of Christ and His accomplished work of redemption, and 
His coming in the Spirit, preaching peace to far and nigh, 
(Eph. ii. 17,) the last time of the history of salvation has 
set in, which continues from the day of Pentecost to that 
of the Lord's coming again in glory. • " The ends of the 
world are come" upon us, (1 Cor. x. 11.) In the last 
epoch of days (wherewith the last period of time, and 
heaven's kingdom on earth began) has God "spoken 
unto us by His Son," (Heb. i. 2,) whom He sent forth, 
when the fulness of the time was come, (Gal. iv. 4.) Thus 
the Apostle views the historical progress of God's kingdom 
in the world, and finds Israel's fundamental hope, that 
Abraham *' should be the heir of the world," (Eom. iv. 13,) 
unfolded • by the prophetic word, and completely fulfilled 
in Him who is of Abraham's seed — viz., in the One who 
is the first-born among many brethren, (Eom. viii. 29 ; Gal. 
iii. 29.) Living then, as he did, at dawn of the evangelical 
day, Paul anticipated with joyous hope the approach of 
noontide, at which the glory of the Son of man would 
shine into, and illuminate, as by flashes of lightning, the 
world's midnight darkness. He was glad when a year, and 
again another, had passed of the Church's time of suffering, 
which himself helped to shorten by the filling-up measure 
of his own, (Col. i. 24.) Upon the nearly twenty years 
which lay between his conversion and departure from Co- 
rinth he looked back, not tired of his labour and sufferings, 
but with growing joy of the now nearer approached salva- 
tion, (Eom. xiii. 11.) We must not think that at one time 
(1 Thess. iv. 15-17) he expected to live till the Lord's re- 
turn, and that at another (2 Thess. ii.) he had relinquished 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 129 

this hope. He ever felt the last day as so near that he did 
not put it off to any measured distance, by reckoning years 
and days which would have to elapse, or events which 
would have to come to pass, before the end should come. 
With joyous longing, mixed with holy dread, he was him- 
self prepared for the Lord's coming ; and also strengthened 
the expectations of the faithful in what they knew perfectly 
well — " that the day of the Lord would so come as a thief in 
the night," (1 Thess. v. 1, &c.) With a ''Maran-atha"— '' the 
Lord cometh " — ^he greets the lukewarm at Corinth, (1 Cor. 
xvi. 22 ;) and woe to him who should have returned this 
greeting with a confident " Not yet." A short while after his 
First Epistle to the Thessalonians, where, " by the word of 
the Lord," he gives expression to the blessed hope of the 
dead, by saying that " we which are alive and remain unto 
the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are 
asleep" — (mark well, in this he speaks the mind of all 
Christians that are " at home in the body," now as well as 
then, who, beside the graves of their loved ones ''which are 
asleep," have to take it for their comfort, until such ''we" 
be ended in the last-born children of Christ's Church) — 
shortly after this consolatory epistle, Paul wrote his second 
to the Thessalonians. He had heard that certain spiritualists 
had subtilised his doctrine of the Lord's advent, and of the 
gathering of the faithful unto Him, into the saying that 
"the day of Christ is already at hand," (2 Thess. ii. 2;) 
similarly as afterwards Hymenseus and Philetus converted 
his doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh into the frivol- 
ous saying that " the resurrection is past already," (2 Tim. 
ii. 18./ This (2 Thess. ii. 2) had terrified the young Chris- 
tians at Thessalonica. Therefore the Apostle comforts them 
with the assurance that their gathering together unto Christ 
was but an earnest of the brightness of His coming ; that 
then the days of their sufferings would be ended. But he 

I 



130 • ST PAUL. 

reminds them also of what he had told them from the be- 
ginning, that the fall of the unbelieving Jews was but the 
prelude to the falling away in the midst of the Church, 
which would come when " he who now letteth " and " will 
let" (the authorities ordained by God) should be taken out 
of the way, and he "who opposeth a^id exalteth himself 
above all that is called God " — i.e., antichrist clad in worldly 
power under spiritual show — should '' sit in the temple of 
God." This " man of sin," the '' son of perdition," in whom, 
as its head, the mystery of iniquity becomes concentrated, 
will develop itself in opposition to the true Church, whose 
head is Christ — hardly, therefore, in a single individual, 
but in a succession of bearers of the antichristian spirit — 
"whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His 
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His 
coming," (2 Thess. ii. 1-8.) How then ? did the prophetic 
certainty, that before the day of Christ's coming antichrist 
must be revealed, hinder Paul from living in such nearness 
of the last day, that, if it pleased God, he might greet its 
appearance on this side the grave ? By no means. If so, 
he would have recalled in the second what he had written 
in the first epistle. Floating before his hopeful eyes 'he 
beheld the call of all nations by the Gospel, (Eom. x. 18,) 
himself cheerfully running his course as a Gospel minister, 
" to fulfil the word of God," (Col. i. 25 ;) the net was fiUing 
with fishes, and daily he saw the end draw nearer, the 
preaching of the Gospel for a witness unto all nations, 
(Matt. xxiv. 14 ; Col. i. 6, 23.) He dared not to measure 
the days, neither those of the Lord's patience before the 
day of His wrath, nor those of the Church's suffering before 
that of her deliverance ; but of this he always was sure, 
that the hope laid up for believers in heaven (Col. i. 5) suf- 
fered no delay by unfulfilled prophecies, for either they 
had received, or were constantly now receiving, their fulfil- 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 131 

ment in the Gospel. Whether antichrist be revealed at 
Jerusalem, or Eome, or Thessalonica, or any other place, he 
certainly must be revealed ''in the temple of God," which 
Paul was building up by the preaching of the Gospel. It 
was not surely against far-off enemies, but very near pre- 
sent ones, that he called his brethren to arms, putting on 
the breastplate of faith, and for an hehn.et the hope of sal- 
vation, (1 Thess. V. 8 ; Eph. vi. 10, &c.) 

But must not the fall of the Jewish nation, and their 
promised final salvation, defer the coming of the Lord in 
His glory ? Those that make Paul wait for a general con- 
version of the Jews, in a far distant time, do not in truth 
comprehend his hope of the last day being near. But 
Eomans xi. teaches the contrary, if otherwise we under- 
stand, in some measure, the mystery of the hope of Israel 
in connexion with the whole apostolic doctrine, and in the 
light of the prophetic word.* It is in the Gospel Church of 
Christ, the heiress to Israel's promise, that Paul sees the 
broken-off branches of the olive-tree strike leaves again 
and bear fruit. Those of Israel who are not Israel, because 
forsaking their stem, ''the root of Jesse" promised to 
their fathers, (Isa. i. 1, 10,) they are not partakers of the 
root and fatness of the good olive-tree — are broken 
off. But, lo ! their fall is the riches of the Gentiles ; theii* 
casting away the reconciling of the world. The grafting in 
of the wild branches into the good olive tree — the rearing 
and growth of the Gentile Church — is brought about more 
speedily than the Apostle had thought, when still bent on 
winning the Jews, in order to prepare them for becoming 
the missionary nation of the world. Nevertheless, God has 

* We can here find space only to some lines of the picture he has drawn 
in that chapter. In my " Bible Lessons " on the Romans I have attempted 
to elucidate more at large the meaning and bearing of that much-disputed 
question. 



132 ST PAUL. 

thoughts of mercy even over the broken-off branches. Was 
not Paul himself one of them ? and has not God shewed in 
him that He is indeed able to graff them in again ? Yea, 
and in raising up this shoot of Benjamin to be a chosen 
vessel of Christ, the King of Israel, has He not shewn that 
" His gifts and calling are without repentance ? " For has 
not this Israelite's calling brought " life from the dead " to 
the world, which he visited with the word of reconciliation 
when cast out from Jerusalem? Therefore, it weU be- 
seemed him to hope that the growth and extension of the 
good olive-tree, planted for the life of the world, would be 
incalculably promoted by the re-acceptance and re-graf&ng 
into it of his own brethren. Though the fulfilment of this 
hope remained far behind Paul's ardent wishes, yet did he 
not therefore mistake the power of God, who, in face of the 
unbelieving mass, continues His goodness to them that 
abide not in unbelief; "they shall be graffed in ; for God 
is able to graff them in again.'' But this He will do in the 
order of His grace, which, through the fall of the Jews, the 
outward historical people of Israel, has taken this turn, 
that the faUen ones are to be provoked to jealousy by the 
Gentiles being brought into the salvation of Israel. It is 
not God's will that they should remain lying on the ground ; 
therefore He follows them with wonders and signs of His 
wrath, but a wrath in which He remembers mercy. Into 
no tree of any other nationality shall the broken-off branches 
from Israel's own be graffed ; but rather Moses' curse and 
our Saviour's word, '' This generation shall not pass away 
tiU all be fulfilled," (Luke xxi. 32,) is to bear them distinct 
from other nations through all generations to the end, in 
order that their forlorn condition as broken-off branches 
may constantly remind them of their faithlessness to " the 
root of Jesse," ''which shall stand for an ensign of the 
people," and to which the Gentiles shall seek, (Isa. xi. 1 0.) 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 133 

And so long as the graffing of Gentile branches into the olive- 
tree of the Gospel Church lasts, so long also the grafiing in 
again of Jewish branches into their own olive-tree shall con- 
tinue. This is Paul's hope. " Blindness in part is happened 
to Israel." Among the whole mass hardened in unbelief 
*' there is a remnant according to the election of grace," 
whose graffing in again will fill up the number of the saved, 
and constitute the fulness of the won ones of Israel. 
'' Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in," God will 
not cease to call and draw the cast-off " children of the 
kingdom " by the voice of their national home, that He may 
woo them back to His people, which He hath not cast off, 
but hath kept all His promises with them in Christ Jesus, 
the seed of Abraham. ''And so" (Eom. xi. 26,) not other- 
wise, — not as the Jews, proud of their fleshly descent fancy, 
— " all Israel shall be saved ;" the fulness of the Gentiles, 
together with that of the returned Jews ; the entire fulness 
of the true Israel, all branches found in the olive-tree by 
faith, as well the new graffed as the old ones grafifed in 
again. Such hope, grounded in the mystery of Christ and 
His Church, Paul finds confirmed by the prophetic word : 
*'As it is written. There shall come out of Sion the De- 
liverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Por 
this is my covenant with them, when I shall take away their 
sins." Prom two prophetic passages, (Isa. lix. 20, xxviii. 
9,) and two prophetic psalm words. (Ps. xiv. 7, ex. 2,) the 
Apostle collects his Scripture proof, that out of the Gospel 
Church, as Zion's legitimate daughter, the Deliverer comes, 
arrayed with Gentile sons and daughters, whom tie hath 
washed and sanctified in His blood, to provoke them who 
" by nature " are Israel, or Jacob, to vie with these in com- 
ing to the marriage of their liege Lord ; and so all Israel be 
saved. God's "new covenant " in Christ "with the house 
of Israel " is : "I will forgive their iniquity, and remember 



134 ST PAUL. 

their sins no more," (Jer. xxxi. 31-34;) and the word 
"when" (Eom. xi. 27) — when I shall take away their sins 
— does not certainly point to a far distant time, that shall 
not begin ''until the fulness of the Gentiles be come 
in :" but rather through the whole time of the New Cove- 
nant the testament is in force, which was opened, when the 
seed came, to whom the promise was made, (Gal. iii. 19 ;) 
and so long, till the Deliverer be come to the last child of 
the Gentiles, will He also continue to come to Israel after 
the flesh, which hath wrested the testament of grace by 
Avorks, that He may " turn away ungodliness from Jacob." 
Did not Paul's own experience testify to the fulfilment of 
this prophetic word ? Therefore his hope for Israel rested 
on the ground that " the gifts and calling of God are with- 
out repentance." Out of Zion, built up at Damascus, did 
the Deliverer come to him, turning away from this son of 
Jacob, of the tribe of Benjamin, the ungodliness which had 
shut him out from Israel's glorious hope ; and being washed 
from his sins by the blood of the everlasting covenant, he 
staked his life on the admission of the Gentiles into the 
tents of Zion ; yet not to bring them alone into Jerusalem's 
prosperity, but also to see the crown of his hope bloom upon 
the head of Zion's King and His chosen people, and so all 
Israel be saved. The " lastlings " will be saved no other- 
wise than the " firstlings." The mystery of the hope of 
Israel is a mystery of grace and of faith, and like all mys- 
teries of God ''without controversy great" in the Church. 
As the progressive development of God's kingdom to 
the end of time, so likewise the future glory of it presents 
itself to Paul's hope, as resulting from the grace of which 
all believers have become partakers in Jesus Christ. 
Those that have " the testimony of Christ confirmed " in 
them "come behind in no gift," but "are enriched by 
Him" in everything, while "waiting for the coming of 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 135 

our Lord Jesus Christ," (1 Cor. i. 4-7.) Quite in Paul's 
sense says Augustine, ''Ask no man for it, turn to thine 
own heart ; already art thou placed at God's right hand. 
Do not mind thy glory being hidden; when the Lord 
Cometh, thou shalt appear with Him in glory. The root 
liveth, though the branch appear withered ; inwardly, in 
the living marrow, is already the strength of the leaves 
and fruit, but they wait for the summer." AVhat in rever- 
sion is given unto us in Christ Jesus, the Crucified and 
Eisen again, '' God hath revealed unto us by His Spirit," 
(1 Cor. ii. 9, &c.,) that with enlightened eyes of our un- 
derstanding we may know what is the hope of His calling, 
and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the 
saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power 
to US-ward who believe. From the believer's " / am " 
Christ's by faith, hope draws her '' / shall be " glorified 
with Him. The Christian, in whose heart God hath 
shined, sees ''the light of the glory of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ," (2 Cor. iv. 6.) In Him we are " sealed with 
the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our 
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased posses- 
sion, unto the praise of His glory," (Eph. i. 13, 14.) " Now 
we see through a glass, darkly ; but then face to face : now 
I know in part ; but then shall I know, even as also I am 
known," (1 Cor. xiii. 12.) The heavenly blessings, where- 
with we are blessed in Christ, we cannot now see but 
" through a glass," conveying a reflection of them to us 
clad in the form of "human speech," (Eom. vi. 19.) 
"Darkly," (more literally, "in enigmas,") we read of them 
in God's Word, yet plainly enough, yea, in our present 
state only thereby clear, that it speaks to us in pictures 
and signs, wherewith the Holy Ghost represents the incar- 
nation and humanity of the Son of God. When we shall 
behold Him, the glorified Son of man, face to face, tjien 



136 ST PAUL. 

shall cease the reflection of His grace and truth in human 
speech ; which is like a cloud in sunshine, full of light on 
the other side, yet throwing shade on us below. ^'Done 
away " shall be " that which is in part/' our present know- 
ing in part, wherein we possess the truth only by bring- 
ing into captivity our reason to the obedience of Christ, 
whereby every enigma of apparent contradiction in Chris- 
tian doctrine is solved, or rather submitted to by faith, 
because it has with it the hope of one day beholding, as it 
were, in a perfect panorama, the harmonious solution of 
the whole. As we were known of God, when in Christ 
He drew us to Himself, and received us into the blessed 
fellowship of His love, so we shall also know Him with 
the clear eyes of love, when, " conformed to the image of 
His Son," (Eom. viii. 29,) we shall stand at His right 
hand. Here the Holy Ghost, through the word of faith, 
begets and nourishes the new man, there only he comes to 
perfection, " unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
of Christ," (Eph. iv. 13.) Faith makes of children men 
that are not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine ; 
but hope points to a manhood compared to which Paul 
himseK was but a lisping child : " When I was a child, I 
spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a 
child; but when I became a man, I put away childish 
things," (1 Cor. xiii. 11.) Together with Christian know- 
ledge the Christian will also reaches forth to perfection in 
hope. Paul could do all things through Christ strengthen- 
ing him, (Phil. iv. 13;) yet could he do so only in hot 
warfare against the sin in his flesh, which lay encamped 
between will and deed, and stamped its Adamite seal upon 
all the thoughts, words, and works of his inner man. 
Even there, where he shines forth in the perfect righteous- 
ness of Christ by faith, (Phil. iii. 9,) he also expresses his 
ardent longing after perfection in the blessed kingdom of 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 137 

t 

his risen Eedeemer, and then continues : " Not as tliousrh 
I had already attained, either were already perfect ; hut I 
follow after, if that I may apprehend that, for which also 
I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Yea, right brotherly 
he takes his beloved Philippians by the hand, and, putting 
himself with them in rank and file of the Christian race, 
he says, ''Brethren, I count not myself to have ajjpre- 
hended : but this one thing I do, forgetting those things 
which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things 
which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of 
the high caHing of God in Christ Jesus," (Phil. iii. 12-14.) 
"I shall win it, what's the wager?" was the holy 
challenge of his faith to his hope. In the same way he 
represents himself to the Corinthians as a holy racer, who 
stakes all on winning the crown, (1 Cor. ix. 24-27.) Al- 
together he is very fond of viewing his whole life as a great 
spiritual warfare, (2 Cor. x. 2-5.) ''Enduring hardness, 
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ," he always lies in the 
field straining every nerve to gain the prize, which is eter- 
nal life, purchased by Christ's blood, given out of pure 
grace to faith, and laid hold of for their honour, glory, and 
immortality, by those who, by patient continuance in well- 
doing, seek for such end of their hope, (Eom. ii. 7.) 
" Fight the good fight of faith," he exhorts his Timothy, 
"lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, 
and hast professed a good profession before many wit- 
nesses," (1 Tim. vi. 12.) Coupled with his unshaken cer- 
tainty of salvation is the holy fear of a man in Christ, who 
cannot earn, but may lose his salvation, and be finally " a 
castaway," (1 Cor. ix. 27.) "Cast not away your con- 
fidence," we hear him say to those whose hope, as an 
anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, (Heb. vi. 19,) 
was in danger of being thrown away on earthly things. 
To escape this danger, and keep it centred in Jesus, who 



138 ST PAUL. 

ascended up to heaven, he thus encourages and exhorts 
them : " Cast not away therefore your confidence, which 
hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of 
patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye 
might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He 
that shall come will come, and will not tarry. N"ow, the 
just shall live by faith : but if any man draw back, my 
soul shall have no pleasure in him, saith the Lord. But 
we are not of them who draw back unto perdition ; but of 
them that believe to the saving of the soul," (Heb. x. 35- 
39.) Christ certainly refreshes His faithful followers with 
joy and peace already in this life, and we have seen Paul's 
heart abound in Christian joy. Still, every blessing he 
enjoyed in faith was only a foretaste to him of the heavenly 
joy his ardent soul anticipated in hope : '' To me to live is 
Christ, and to die is gain," he writes in that letter of joy 
and love to the Philippians. "I am in a strait betwixt 
two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, 
which is far better," (Phil. i. 21, &c.) The longer he lived 
in "this tabernacle," the more ardent became his desire 
"to be absent from the body, and to be present with the 
Lord," (2 Cor. v. 1-8.) To the Eomans, where he most 
extols the treasure of a life by faith, he couches his last 
wishes and blessings in these words : " E"ow, the God of 
peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye 
may abound in hope through the power of the Holy 
Ghost,'' (Eom. xv. 13.) IsTot less firmly and constantly 
than Peter, whom the Church of old has designated as 
"the man of hope," does Paul keep his eye fixed on the 
heavenly inheritance, and on that day in which, at the . 
glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, whom his soul loveth, 
the believer v/ill rejoice with joy unspeakable, and fuU of 
glory, (1 Pet. i. 3-9.) 

" Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God,'' 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 139 

(1 Cor. XV. 50,) and yet the heirs of the kingdom are men 
having flesh and blood. Far from depreciating the body, 
(Col. ii. 2.3,) which rather he designates as " the temple of 
the Holy Ghost," (1 Cor. vi.l9,) Paul felt the more grievously 
its fleshly and death-doomed condition, and therefore 
groaned under its burden, (2 Cor. v. 4.) But he also com- 
forted himself with the hope he had for his mortal body 
in Christ's own, the Eisen One, whom he had beheld in 
heavenly glory. "For we are members of His body, of 
His flesh, and of His bones," (Eph. v. 30,) he says of the 
Church, which Christ, by His word and sacrament, sancti- 
fieth, cleanseth, nourisheth, and cherisheth, "that it should 
be holy and without blemish." He views the Spirit of 
Christ in believers as an earnest also of the life of their 
mortal bodies, (Eom. viii. 11,) and therefore waits for the 
complete adoption, (ib. ver. 23^) when God shall recognise 
as His dear children the brethren of " the first-born from 
the dead," (Col. i. 18;) for ''the Saviour of the body," (Eph. 
V. 23,) the Lord Jesus Christ, '' shall change our vile body, 
that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, 
according to the working, whereby He is able to subdue 
all things unto Himself," (Phil. iii. 21.) Eor redemption, 
not from, but of the body Paul hopes. His arduous con- 
flict in the mortal body did indeed extort from him the 
doleful exclamation : ''0 wretched man that I am ! who 
shall deliver me from the body of this death ? " But in 
the triumphant chapter that follows it the hope breaks 
forth, that even this mortal body shall also be delivered from 
the bondage of corruption. '' The resurrection of the flesh'* 
was, indeed, an article of most solemn importance with the 
Apostle. The naked "immortality of the soul" never 
was any object of his hope. Though death he deemed 
gain, because to die in the service of Christ, and for His 
name, was joy and honour to him ; yet it was not to be 



140 ST PAUL. 

*' iinclotlied," but " clothed iipon/' that he longed for, 
(2 Cor. V. 1, &c.) With confident hope he looked for- 
ward to the dissolution of '' the earthly house of this 
tabernacle ; " for of the " eternal house " — the future risen 
body — he could say, "We have a buHding of God, an 
house not made with hands," because this '^ building" and 
" house " is pledged to the believer in the body of his 
risen Head and Saviour in heaven, to whom His members 
will and must be joined. Yet the monster Death was an 
object of horror to him ; not that he dreaded its terrors, — 
them he had conquered through faith in Christ's death 
and victorious rising again, — ^but he shuddered at the last 
enemy's ruthless onslaught on Christ's members, clad as 
they are in their Saviour's righteousness and life. His 
was that groaning over death to which Jesus was moved 
on proceeding to Lazarus's grave, (John xi. 33-38.) It 
was the mournful reflection of the grim tyrant's mur- 
derous right over man created in God's image, and 
redeemed through Christ's blood. Fain would he have 
seen "the last enemy" robbed of his prey. "For in 
this," he says, " we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed 
upon with our house which is from heaven. For we that 
are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened ; not for 
that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mor- 
tality might be swallowed up in life," — swallowed up as 
the sun consumes the fog, — so that in the twinkling of an 
eye this corruptible may be " changed into incorruptible, 
and this mortal into immortality," (1 Cor. xv. 51, &c. ; 
1 Thess. iv. 17.) Yet, if it must be so, Paul also is resigned 
to pass, through bitter death, from his earthly pilgrimage 
to his heavenly home with the Lord, where faith shall 
cease, and hope be lost in sight. " Eor our light affliction, 
which is but for a moment," was his challenge just before 
(2 Cor. iv. 17, 18) to the murderer and destroyer, '' worketh 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 141 

for US " — by trying the Christian faith, and putting to test 
his hope — "a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory ; while we look not at the things which are seen, 
but at those which are not seen ; for the things which are 
seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are 
eternal." The eye of faith, called hope, will be rewarded 
— in yonder blessed sight — with an eternal weight of glory, 
for having ''looked" at things which are not seen, which 
is folly to sense and reason, (Heb. xi. 27.) And what 
makes to us the invisible so incontestably sure, in a world 
so strangely the opposite to all our hope ? " He that 
wrought us for the seK-same thing is God, who also hath 
given unto us the earnest of the Spirit," (2 Cor. v. 5.) 

The celebrated chapter, wherein Paul most joyfully 
confesses his hope of a glorious resurrection, (1 Cor. xv.,) 
we have abeady adverted to ; but let us ha^e the pleasure 
of expatiating upon it more fully. By him also, as "the 
least of the apostles," the risen Saviour hath been seen, 
and though ''last of all," yet, by the grace of God, he 
became the foremost in preaching His Gospel. " ^N'ow, if 
Christ be preached, that He rose from the dead, how say 
some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead ?" 
Who will dare to tear asunder the Head and His members ? 
Those wiseacres who think it folly to believe in a resur- 
rection of the dead, must also have the courage to deny 
that Christ rose from the dead. But if Christ be not 
risen, then all Christian faith is vaiQ, and all evangelical 
preaching is a worthless thing; then the apostles are " false 
witnesses," sin is unatoned, " they also which are fallen 
asleep in Christ are perished," being slain by unconquered 
death, and those that have been deceived into devoting 
their life to a dead Christ are worse off than those who 
have adorned theirs with " elysian flowers," or dwelt in 
"amaranthiae bowers." "But now — blessed now/ — is 



142 ST PAUL. 

Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of 
them that slept/* In the word ''first-fruits" lies the 
Christian's anchor of hope. Paul loves, as we have seen 
by a glance at Eomans v., to place Adam and Christ in 
counter-position ; Adam the sad beginner of a mortal race, 
Christ the triumphant restorer of a new and immortal race. 
And as there he does it in praise of the universal grace of 
life, which exults in the universal judgment over death, so 
also here. The universal defeat of mankind in Adam he 
sees reversed by the universal victory in Christ. The per- 
verse talk of a "universal restoration" (apocatastasis,) fain 
hoped for by some, has, like all erroneous doctrine, laid 
the egg of error into the nest of truth. Death's universal 
reign by Adam's transgression has, indeed, been broken 
and conquered for all by Christ's victory over it in rising 
from the dead^ and becoming " the first-fruits of them that 
slept ; " but like " as in Adam all die," because, born of the 
flesh, they are partakers of Adam's nature, " so in Christ 
shall all be made alive," because, born of the Si3irit, they 
are made partakers of Christ's grace by faith. These only 
Paul has here in view, while those who through their 
u.nbelief are eliminated from man's redemption, have no 
share in the blessed resurrection to eternal life described 
in this chapter. They shall indeed " come forth" also, — 
for " all that are in their graves shall hear His voice," — 
but alas ! " unto the resurrection of damnation," and not 
unto that of eternal bliss, (John v. 28, 29.) It was at this 
that Pelix trembled. Christ our Plead is risen, but in the 
members no resurrection is yet visible. Nevertheless the 
Apostle exhorts them that are baptized into Christ's death, 
and walk in newness of life, to ''reckon themselves to be dead 
indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ 
our Lord," (Eom. vi. 11.) But it costs the total renunciation 
of self and its natural perception, to reckon ourselves 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 143 

as grown together in the likeness of Christ's resui'- 
rection. Therefore Paul bids the Christian to strencjthen 
his hope by ''looking" at the things which are ''not 
seen," mipnzzled. by this sacred oxymoron; and teaches 
us to apprehend that holy order, " Christ the iirst-fruits, 
afterward they that are Christ's at His coming." ]^o 
sooner than on the glorious day of His coming again shall 
the entire harvest follow their great First-fruit, in springiQg 
up and blooming forth from their graves. Of a "first" 
and "second" resurrection — that hefore and this on the 
last day — Paul knows nothing ; so we may take the " first 
resurrection " (Eev. xx. 5, 6) to mean none other than that 
which faith celebrates over the baptismal grave, (Col. ii. 12 ;) 
and the thousand years' reign of the confessors of Christ, the 
reign which Christ's Spirit is exercising through the Gospel 
over all nations that do homage to Him. By " then cometh 
the end," Paul does not mean the universal resurrection of 
the just and unjust, as following that of " the thousand years' 
reign ;" but he thus explains what he means by "the end : " 
"When He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, 
even the Father ; when He shall have put down all rule, 
and all authority and power." This surrender of the 
finished reign of grace to God the Father will take place 
when, to the very last of them, (Heb. ii. 14,) the Son of 
His love shall have put all enemies under His feet; and 
thus the prediction of the Son of Man in the eighth Psalm 
(cf. Heb. i., ii.) be brought to its fulfilment in the restored 
reign of mankind through their Piepresentative and "Captain 
of their salvation." When Christ's word from the cross — 
" It is finished!" — shall find its re-echo in, " All things are 
put under His feet," all, with one single exception — viz.. 
Him who did put all things under Him ; then the end 
shall have come, whereunto from the beginning the whole 
history of salvation tended ; and " then shall the Son also 



144 ST PAUL. 

Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under 
Him, that God may be all in aU." Until this glorious issue 
Christ our King sways the sceptre of His power in heaven 
and earth, as the Mediator between God and men, (1 Tim. 
ii. 5,) in order to free mankind, held bound by Satan, sin, 
and death, and through the '"joyful tidings" of His accom- 
plished redemption, to lead them back to communion with 
God. Only when, through His oflBlce of grace, God shall 
have become again all in all, and every antagonistic power 
shall have been cast out from His kingdom — only then it 
is that the Son delivers it up to the Father. Yet in doing 
so He does not give it out of His hand. " Whose kingdom 
shall have no end," is the confession of His Church, and 
rightly so. As before the foundation of the world the Son 
was throned with the Father, equal God in honour and 
might, so win Jesus Christ throughout eternity sit upon 
the throne of His glory, to which He will exalt also all the 
Father hath given Him ; and every tongue shall confess 
that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the 
Father, (Phil. ii. 11.) In Him all have now become sub- 
ject to God the Father ; the '' First-fruit " of now glorified 
mankind has drawn all after and to Him ; the eternal Son 
of God, who is very man, rules from everlasting to ever- 
lasting, as Head of His Church, reigning with Him, (2 Tim. 
ii. 12,) and whose reign in Him will be in blessed subjec- 
tion to God. Such is the goal of the Church ; and she is 
sure of this glorious goal, because Christ is risen from 
the dead. Death has become a derision to them who are 
"baptized over the dead" — the bodies of the blessed 
martyrs, (or thus : who have insured their dying bodies in 
baptism unto life,) who do not count their lives dear unto 
themselves, but live unto Him who died for them and rose 
again ; who count themselves as sheep for the slaughter, 
(Eom. viii. 36 ;) who bear about in their bodies the dying 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 145 

of the Lord Jesus, (2 Cor. iv. 10 ;) yea, who die daily, that 
they may gain for their joy and crown of rejoicing (1 Thess. 
ii. 19, 20) those that are made alive by their preaching. 
On whose side will ye be now, Corinthians ? on Pani's ? 
or of those who, denying our Christian hope, are only con- 
sistent when they say, " Let us eat and drink, for to- 
morrow we die ?" Whatever their talk may be of " God," 
it can beguile no sober-minded Christian ; for to whom the 
resurrection from the dead is naught, their God is naught 
With such men Paul will have nothing to do, while he 
gladly answers the question of timid Christians, "How 
are the dead raised up ? and with what body do they come ? " 
Behold the mystery of resurrection portrayed in the dying 
and sprouting grain, of the rising body in the manifold 
riches of celestial and terrestrial bodies. Should the Al- 
mighty be at a loss how to form the bodies of the raised ? 
Interpreting by the emblem of the grain, the Apostle says, 
" So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in cor- 
ruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is sown in dis- 
honour, it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness, it is 
raised in power ; in fine, it is sown a natural (i.e., in the 
original — a psychical) body, it is raised a spiritual body." 
Psychical is the body that is interred, because 'psyche — the 
soul — ^pervading it, holds it together; and, according to 
Scripture language, animals have this soul in common with 
man, only that man's soul, since the fall, has become sin- 
ful, and the souled body " natural " to man, and liable to 
death because of sin, (Eom. viii. 10;) but the spirit, which, 
through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, has become life, 
will finally pervade again both body and soul with His 
power, as now the material body is pervaded by the soul. 
As there is a psychical body, so there is also a spiritual 
body, which exists, first-fruit-like, in Christ. From the 
first Adam, as our earthly progenitor, we have the psychical 



146 ST PAUL. 

body, whose living soul, through the spirit's fall from God, 
has become fleshly, animal, mortal; the spiritual body we 
receive from Christ, " the Lord from heaven," who — as the 
" last Adam " — '' was made quickening Spirit through His 
resurrection," and who now — sacramentally and spiritually 
— engrafts His heavenly life into His people, (John vi. 54, 
63,) in order to crown His work of love in them by raising, 
at the last day, their " sown " psychical bodies to living 
spiritual bodies. In anticipation already of this glorious 
change, the Apostle says, " As we have borne the image 
of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the hea- 
venly ; " that is, with body and soul glorified, we shall be 
" changed into the same image with Him from glory to glory, 
even as by the Spirit of the Lord," (2 Cor. iii. 18.) There 
indeed the Apostle will shine with resplendent glory, yet 
by the splendour of the same light which shall give perfect 
bliss also to the meanest of his co-redeemed brethren. 
Flesh and blood, now corruptible, shall then incorruptibly 
belong to the spirits of the just made perfect ; after the 
same manner as to the Son of God belong His flesh and 
blood, which now are "the Christian's meat and drink. How 
constantly expectant Paul was of '' the last trump," not 
only when writing to the Thessalonians, (1 Thess. iv. 13, 
&c.,) but also, when penning this chapter of hope, we see 
from his repeating here as '' a mystery " (ver. 51, &c.) what 
there he communicated as "the word of the Lord :" "The 
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incor- 
ruptible, and we shall be changed " — viz., we whom the last 
day meets alive in corruptible bodies. Thus he could say, 
because the sound of the last trump was near to him in that 
of the first — viz., the Gospel (John v. 25, 28 ;) while at the 
same time he was prepared to die. " God hath both raised up 
the Lord," he writes in this same Epistle (chap. vi. 14,) "and 
will also raise up us by His own power," (cf. 2 Cor. iv. 14.) 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 147 

Changed from corruptible into incorruptible all men must 
be, whether it be by being raised, or "clothed upon;" for 
without this change the ''joint-heirs with Christ" cannot in- 
herit the kingdom with Him. But this they shall as surely 
as, through Christ's victory over death and hell, they have 
the first-fruits of His Spirit; and their complete victory 
with Him shall finally accomplish the prophetic word, 
which the Holy Spirit re-echoes in full gospel triumph 
through Paul, " Death is swallowed up in victory ! '' (Isa. 
XXV. 8.) ''0 death, Avhere is thy sting ? grave, where is 
thy victory ? " (Hos. xiii. 14.) 

One thing yet remains to complete the picture of the 
man of hope. In the Christian's earthly that shall be- 
come heavenly, after the similitude of Christ's glorified 
body, the Apostle finds a pledge of the whole creation be- 
coming glorified. In that song of songs of his, (Eom. viii.,) 
which we heard the man of faith sing, his hope also raises 
her voice to the highest pitch. The mockers of our Chris- 
tian hope, the persecutors of a flock whose Head is in 
heaven, are walking the way of the children of Cain, and, 
looking only on the things which are seen, regale them- 
selves with the pleasures of this world, finding both their 
honour and delight in them. There now comes Paul forth 
with quite a new kind of joy, to the comfort of all his 
companions in tribulation. The very creature, idolised by 
the ungodly, and applied by them for the adorning («:o9- 
/A09) of their cheerless wretchedness, the Apostle gives to 
the poor Christian, who yet is the expectant heir of glory, 
as a companion of his suffering and hope, by " drawing,'* 
as Luther expresses it, " the holy cross through every 
creature, and making heaven and earth, and all things 
therein, suffer with us." But he also looks forward with 
delight to the day of their redemption — the day when all 
created beings, now our joint-prisoners in mortal body, 



148 ST PAUL. 

shall also lay aside their menial garb, worn as by bondmen, 
and be clad in festive holiday attire. "Tor the earnest 
expectation of the creature waited for the manifestation of 
the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to 
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath sub- 
jected the same in hope; because the creature itself also 
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the 
glorious liberty of the children of God. Tor we know that 
the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together 
until now," (Eom. viii. 19-22.) It is said by Jewish 
Eabbis in praise of Saul's teacher, Gamaliel, that he was 
not versed only in their holy writings and heathen litera- 
ture, but that also he understood the language of creation. 
Paul, however, was initiated into its mysterious import by 
another teacher. We have heard him speak at Lystra 
(Acts xiv. 15-17) and Athens (Acts xvii. 24, &c.) of the 
rich blessings distributed with kindly hand by the benefi- 
cent Creator and patient Preserver of all things ; and he 
leaves the Gentiles without excuse if they perceive not 
His power and goodness manifested in His creation, (Eom. 
i. 19, 20.) From his native province, Cilicia, with all its 
fruitful' plains on the foot of ''Taurus," and its jessamine 
and oleander shrubs on the banks of the " Cydnus," on- 
ward to the charming regions of Campania, he has listened 
to land and sea. The hills about Jerusalem and the 
flower-studded brooks of the Holy Land, the cedars of 
Lebanon and the majestic palm of Syria, the olive groves 
of Attica and the evergreen pines of Corinth, the motley 
group of isles in the Greek Archipelago and the sunny 
splendour of their vine-covered hills — all the sublime 
beauties and lovely grace of nature found in Paul an 
attentive and fond observer. But he heard heaven and 
earth tell of something else than do poets and natural 
philosophers, when they listen to " the tales of the wood." 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 149 

Yea, better than his honoured teacher Gamaliel could do 
it, did the holy prophets lead him to view nature, after 
their light had dawned on him in the person of Christ. 
He now understood the 8th Psalm, because he knew man 
as the fallen, but in Christ restored, lord " over the works 
of God's hand." In the man made of earth, the creature 
had her share in the honour of the Divine image. VvTien 
man's spirit was darkened by Satan's, and his psychical 
body became a prey to death, the living light of creation 
expired, the tie between the visible and invisible world 
was rent, every creature was "made subject to vanity," 
and yielded passively to the will of its Creator, though 
groaning and travailing in pain under the bondage of 
"him that had the power of death, that is, the devil," 
(Heb. ii. 14,) "the prince of the power of the air," (Eph. 
ii. 2.) Its perishing condition the creature would not 
bemoan, were it still permitted to offer itself up for the 
preservation and gladness of man, as he was in paradise, 
created in God's image. But that, as companion in tri- 
bulation with God's suffering children, it has to endure 
violence and injustice from the ungrateful and wicked, 
that it is ill-treated and tormented by " unjust stewards," 
and the countless idolaters who pervert the truth of the 
creature's hope into the lie of their hope in the creature ; 
thereat "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in 
pain until now." " Subject to vanity " Paul styles the 
great tragedy of the creature's present woful existence. 
Even the service which it gladly yields to man — to the 
vineyard's grateful dresser and the flock's pious shepherd 
(1 Cor. ix. 7) — is embittered, because it serves corruption : 
''Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God 
shall destroy both it and them," (1 Cor. vi. ] 3.) That " all 
is to perish with the using " is the bitter by-taste of death 
it has received from man's death. " In hope " was the 



150 ST PAUL. 

sound in Paul's Christian ear wlien hearkening to the 
plaintive melodies pervading all nature. The green trees 
of the forest are sad that they have to serve idolaters, and 
they stretch forth their tops in expectation of the days 
when they shall "clap their hands" for joy over the glory 
of God's children, (Isa. Iv. 12.) The sea reluctantly bears 
ships with idolatrous signs devoted to Mammon's service, 
and would fain foam forth her music to the last advent. 
The whole earth pants under the load of the daily count- 
less acts of injustice and violence committed on her sur- 
face, and longs after her change into an "habitation of 
righteousness." The sun feels impatient to shine down 
from year to year upon the misdeeds of the wicked. Oh 
that it might soon lose its shine, after the manner in which 
it grew pale at Damascus before the heavenly brightness 
of the Lord 1 Yea, heaven and earth, both partakers in 
Zion's captivity, tarry for their redemption, like the weary 
labourer for the approach of his holiday. But the glorious 
end of their tarrying is pledged also in Christ, " the first- 
born of every creature," (Col. i. 15.) As much as "the 
second Man, the Lord from heaven," under whose feet God 
hath put all things, is "worthy of higher honour" than 
*' the first man, of the earth," so much more gloriously also 
will the creature be adorned, when in the '' regeneration" 
(Matt. xix. 28) it shall stand forth a joyful participator in 
the final redemption of God's children, in their glorious 
freedom from Satan, sin, and death, itself freed also from 
the yoke of corruptible bondage, no longer '' unwilhngly," 
but again willingly to serve, in new wise, its legitimate 
lords. (Cf Matt. xxvi. 29.) Then the plaintive sym- 
phonies of creation's groans shall have an end, and be 
swallowed up in the redeemed's endless hymns of "ho- 
sannah" sung to God. Paul understood the speechless 
aspirations of creation under the creature's groaning an- 



THE MAN OF HOPE. 151 

guish, (''we know" is Ms expression,) for he found them 
re-echoed in God's children, who themselves also are made 
to groan in their mortal bodies, for whose redemption they 
are waiting : '' And not only they, but ourselves also, 
which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves 
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, 
the redemption of the body." 

Is there anything greater than the hope that Paul had 
in Christ Jesus ? " And now abideth faith, hope, charity, 
these three ; but the greatest of these is charity!' In the 
light of the epiphany of glory, which in the followers of 
Christ already manifests itseK here on earth, and which 
shall never cease, let us now view Paul in the next 
chapter. 

" Zion hears the watchmen singing, 
And all her heart for joy is springing; 
She wakes, she rises from her gloom. 
For her Lord comes down all-glorious. 
Is strong in grace, in truth victorious ; 
Her star is risen, her light is come ! 
Ah, come, Thou blessed One, 
God's own beloved Son. 
Hallelujah ! 
We follow, till the halls we see, 
Where Thou hast bid us sup with Thee." 



IX. 

THE MAN OF LOVE. 

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." — 1 Coe. xi. 1. 

Love is life in others, life of Me in Thee. In Christ was 
manifested bodily the love that dwells in God, and the 
disciple whom Jesus loved drank it in at the breast of the 
Son of man. Pectus facit theologum, 'tis the heart makes 
the divine. St John the divine's sentence is, " Every one 
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that 
loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love," (1 John iv. 
7, 8.) That " the same anointing " teacheth the Christian 
all things, (1 John ii. 27,) we may see also in Paul, made 
by the grace of Christ's Spirit "the man of love." Where 
he extols love, it is at times as if one heard even St John 
speak. And yet we find here also the man again who 
once laboured and wearied himseK under the law, but has 
now, in Christ, learned to rejoice in the fulfilment of the 
law. Having apprehended the righteousness by faith in 
opposition to that by works, and Christian hope in oppo- 
sition to that of carnal Judaism, and being thus forced 
from the bondage of the law, he counts love to be " the 
law of Christ," (Gal. vi. 2 ;) and in the very place where 
he declares that to them that are without law, himself had 
become as without law, he feels constrained to insert, 
" Being not without law to God, but under the law of 
Christ," (1 Cor. ix. 21.) All that rich admonition, wherein 
he presents himself to his brethren as a free evangelical 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 153 

Christian, whose love makes him the servant of all, he 
closes with the sentence we have taken for the heading of 
this chapter, " Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of 
Christ." 

In Christ Jesns his Lord he has met with '' truth " per- 
sonified, (Eph. iv. 21,) the form of which he fonnd in the 
law, (Eom. ii. 20.) That Christ be formed in his "little 
children," as in himself, thereunto he laboured like one 
"travailing in birth," (Gal. iv. 19;) and this forming of 
Christ in them is perfected in love. He stirs up the " love 
of the Spirit " (Eom xv. 30) in the brethren that have the 
" Spirit of Christ," and therefore are His, (Eom. viii. 9 ;) 
the fellowship of the Spirit is shewn in likemindedness, 
" having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind,'" 
(Phil. ii. 1, 2.) To the young Christians at Thessalonica, 
whom he cherished, "even as a nurse her children," (1 Thess. 
ii. 7,) he found it not needful to write of "brotherly love," 
themselves being ''taught of God to love one another," 
(1 Thess. iv. 9 ;) for where ''faith groweth," there "charity 
aboundeth," (2 Thess. i. 3.) To them who, according to the 
riches of God's glory, are strengthened with might by His 
Spirit in the inner man, it is given to have Christ dwelling 
in their hearts by faith, whereby they are "rooted and 
grounded in love ; " that they may be able to comprehend 
with aU saints the all-abounding "love of Christ, which pass- 
eth knowledge," that they may be filled with all the fulness of 
God, (Eph. iii. 16, 19.) Knowledge without love is naught ; 
but being " knit together in love," Christians will attain 
" unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding," 
and of the mystery of Christ, " in whom are hid all the 
treasures of wisdom and knowledge," (Col. ii. 2, 3.) To 
the "foolish Galatians," who, in their legalising, were 
hewing out for themselves " broken cisterns, that can hold 
no water," (Jer. ii. 13,) and whose love therefore was 



154 ST PAUL. 

pining away, he exclaims, " Christ is become of no effect 
unto yoTi ; whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye 
are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for 
the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ 
neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; 
but faith which worketh by love," (Gal. v. 4, 6.) Thus 
also " we establish the law through faith," (Eom. iii. 31 ;) 
because faith, having received Christ by grace, lives by 
and in His love, which is '' the fulfilling of the law." 
What Moses' law is claim-wise, Christ's gospel is gift-wise, 
viz., the impress of God's holy love ; and it is out of the 
gospel (" by the mercies of God," Eom. xii. 1) that the 
Apostle draws the courage to exhort his flocks, "Be ye 
therefore followers of God, as dear children, and walk in 
love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given HimseK 
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling 
savour," (Eph. v. 1, 2.) " Put on therefore, as the elect 
of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, 
humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing 
one another, and forgiving one another ; if any man have a 
quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do 
ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is 
the bond of perfectness," (Col. iii. 12, 14.) In the admoni- 
tory part of his Epistle to the Eomans love assumes her 
highest height. Having attired the saints with the double 
necklace of "brotherly love" (the holj aTopy^, relation- 
love) and "love to enemies," (chap, xii.,) and exhorted the 
" heavenly citizens " by well-doing to prove themselves 
good and conscientious subjects unto the powers that be, 
he shews them how richly they possess everything need- 
ful to prove before the Gentiles, by their honest walk 
among them, " as in the day," that the gospel-day had in- 
deed set in ; and, summing up all in one, he says, " Owe no 
man anything, but to love one another ; for he that loveth 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 155 

another liatli fulfilled the law/' (cliap. xiii. 8.) Everywhere 
does the ''debtor" both to the Greeks and Barbarians 
(chap. i. 14) shew himself an example of that love, wherein 
one owes himself to other. His whole life is one continued 
payment of the debt of love to which the Lord Jesus 
bound him, when He forgave him all his debt ; and 
because love never ceases, we see in him what Augustine 
says of love's paying and yet remaining in debt : " Love 
giveth in paying debts, yet, after giving, always remaineth 
'herself' in debt. Time never will be that she is not 
paying ; nor doth she ever lose, but rather multiplieth her- 
self in giving." If it could be said of any man that (in this 
sense) he paid all he owes, it was Paul, who ever continued 
in the payment of love's unceasing debt, (Heb. xiii. 1 ;) for 
the unanimous claim, the sum and substance of all com- 
mandments, is. Thou shalt love. Quite at one with St John, 
Paul beholds the manifestation of the love of God in 
brotherly love, (1 John iv. 21,) and gives to this the prize 
of law's fulfilment, (Eom. xiii. 8.) How had he been so 
blind aforetime, when fancying to himself that the law 
could make of him a man of love ? But now, without its 
aid and co-operation, the law found itself fulfilled in the 
servant and follower of Jesus Christ. The complete ful- 
fiUer of all righteousness required by the law is Christ for 
us, and Christ's Spirit in us. Love, which is its fulfilling, 
(Eom. xiii. 10,) is ever growing, therefore never perfect in us, 
but is well-pleasing and acceptable unto God in Christ our 
intercessor and advocate. 

The apostolic declaration, that " he that loveth another 
hath fulfilled the law," has a twofold import. First, love 
is that deed required by the law, in which all other deeds 
required by it are contained and summed up. " For this," 
he immediately continues, "thou shalt not commit adultery, 
thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear 



156 ST PAUL. 

false witness, thou shalt not covet; and if there be any 
other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this 
saying, namely. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" 
Therein, then, consists the Christian's freedom from the 
law, that neither is he driven to any work of the law, 
through which he has still to become righteous before God, 
nor is he bound to any but the "new commandment," 
(John xiii. 34,) which he readily and gladly fulfils — and 
wherein he accurately hits the eternal sense of all law's 
commandments — by the spirit of love. Luther, according 
to the sense given him of Paul's gospel, says, " Thus, then, 
this commandment of love is a short commandment, and 
yet a long one; it is but one, and yet many ; none, and yet 
all ; one, and short in itself, and soon understood, but long 
and many in practice, for it comprehends and rules all; 
it is no commandment in respect to works, for it names 
none as its own in particular, and yet it contains all, be- 
cause all are, and must be, its own. . Thus the command- 
ment of love annuls all others, and yet establishes them 
all ; and that for this reason, and to this end, that we may 
learn and know to keep and to esteem no commandment or 
work other than is required and bidden by love." Where, 
for instance, the Apostle charges husbands and wives with 
their duty one toward another, what else does he but en- 
large on the commandment of love ? " I think also that I 
have the Spirit of God," he ventures to say, (1 Cor. vii. 40.) 
But the Spirit of God is love. " Love worketh no ill to 
his neighbour ; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." 
" Have love," saith Augustine, in one mind with Paul, 
" and do what thou wilt." But more still. For Paul also 
calls love the " fulfilling," or filling up, of the law, because 
it fills up its empty form with real substance ; so that the 
manifold riches contained in each commandment are made 
apparent. Works conformable to law, without love, are but 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 157 

empty nutshells. Yea, works the most splendid, such as 
bestowing all one's goods to feed the poor, and even acts of 
martyrdom — the giving one's body to be burnt — Paul de- 
clares to be without profit if they lack the moving prin- 
ciple, which alone gives and can give them reality, and 
heart, and soul — viz., love, (1 Cor. xiii. 3.) Out of the seed 
of Christ's Spirit love grows into, and puts life into, every 
form and kind of fruit, which God has delineated in His 
commandments, all commandments of love ; and this is the 
evangelical use of the law, as taught by Paul, that the. 
Christian in his Walk of love be led by the light of God's 
commandments, as by the reins of the spiritual law, by 
which the law of the Spirit (or of Christ, or of faith) with 
mild and yet lordly hand guides the children of the Spirit. 
How finely does the Apostle understand how to draw forth 
the sense of love from under the veil even of outward or- 
dinances! " It is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt 
not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. 
Does God take care for oxen? or saith He it altogether for 
oursakes?"(l Cor. ix. 9,10.) 

What Christian heart can help being touched, when, on 
Palm-Sunday, the Epistle is read of the humiliation and 
exaltation of our blessed Saviour — an Epistle, the mys- 
terious doctrine of which Paul introduces in these words, 
" Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus," 
(Phil. ii. 5.) That mind of love he means, which wiU 
prompt Christ's followers to " do nothing through strife or 
vainglory, in lowliness of mind each esteeming other better 
than himself, none looking on his own things, but every 
man also on the things of others." Wherever he places 
Christ's example before his own and' his brethren's eyes, 
he beholds love in the foreground, that love which divests 
herself of her own, condescends to the lowly, and enriches 
the poor. He will not command the Corinthians into well- 



158 ST PAUL. 

doing to their poor brethren at Jerusalem ; but by a graphic 
depicting of the abundant liberality of the churches in 
Macedonia, he will prove the sincerity of their love ; and 
then points them to Christ's example of love, as the funda- 
mental motive to all ours : " For ye know the grace of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your 
sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might 
be rich," (2 Cor. viii. 9.) And of the Eomans, for whose 
faith he fervently thanks God, he demanded — "by the 
mercies of God " — as their best sacrifice, that of their own 
selves. " Tor even Christ,"' he says, "pleased not Himself;" 
" wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received 
us to the glory of God," (Eom. xv. 3, 7.) Paul's whole life 
is perfumed with the sweet savour of self-sacrificing love. 
We know in what high estimation he held evangelical 
liberty, and how he burnt in holy zeal against those who 
would rob others of this inestimable treasure. " Beware of 
dogs," he could break forth against them, " beware of evil 
workers, beware of the concision ; for we are the circum- 
cision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in 
Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the fl^esh," (Phil, 
iii. 2, 3.) But while in his heart "before God" faith 
reigned supreme, (Eom. xiv. 22,) he yielded to love the 
supremacy in relation to his neighbour. ''Though I be 
free from all men, — for why is my liberty judged of another 
man's conscience ? (1 Cor. x. 29,) — yet have I made my- 
self servant unto all, that I might gain the more," (1 Cor. 
ix. 19.) It would have been to him a bringing under the 
power of something else than Christ, had he felt himself 
hindered by anything from foregoing, and leaving undone 
what he, to possess and to do, had the power. He was far 
from thinking that he had received his gospel liberty, his 
evangelical knowledge and strength of faith, in order to 
please himself in them. Nay, with burning sympathy to 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 159 

feel, as his own, tlie oifences of tlie meanest among his 
flock, (2 Cor. xi. 29 ;) with strong shoulders to bear the in- 
firmities of the weak ; to sacrifice his power, rather than 
by the use of it to shew his Christian liberty, where either 
it might save many, or save offence to a single brother; to 
turn all to the best, and recognise the scrupulous and 
narrow-minded as brethren also for whom Christ died, as 
servants living unto the Lord, standing and falling to their 
own Master, (Eom. xiv.,) — this was Paul's mind, and 
therein he walked according to love. The Corinthians 
had seen what he wrote in 1 Cor. viii.-x. ; the more boldly 
then could he exhort them, '' Let no man seek his own, 
but every one another's wealth," (1 Cor. x. 24;) while the 
Eomans could read Eom. xiv., under the testimony of many 
witnesses that the Apostle had drawn his own portrait. 
" Quod nos docemus, ille vivit/' (what we teach, he lives,) 
said Luther of Nicolas Hausmann, a Pauline follower of 
Christ. 

Gregory of Nazianzum read in Paul's Epistles what 
Paul says himself of Paul. The breath of the Spirit of 
revelation pervades the speech of the holy man of God ; 
wherefore his words are no dead letters, but full of soul, 
"having hands and feet," as Luther says, because they 
bring the man Paul to our view as he verily lives and 
moves in Christ. " For we write none other things unto 
you than what (plainly told) ye read or acknowledge, and 
I trust ye shall acknowledge to the end ; as also ye have 
acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even 
as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus," (2 Cor. 
i, 13, 14.) It is in this view that we shaU now proceed to 
consider his masterly panegyric upon love (" charity") in 
1 Cor. xiii. ; and we shall find that, upon the " more excel- 
lent way," which here he shews the Corinthians and us all, 
himself has preceded his brethren as the follower of Christ. 



160 ST PAUL. 

" Thougli I speak with the tongues of men and of an- 
gels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass 
or a tinkling cymbal." Paul thanked God that he spoke 
with tongues more than all the Corinthians, (1 Cor. xiv. 
18 ;) but though it be in the speech of angels that behold 
God's face, yet would he be like a clock or cymbal, that 
gives forth its sound without either feeling or conscious- 
ness, unless he be moved by the love which the Spirit of 
God infuses into that of man. He was conscious, then, 
that love to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
love to His people, love to all men, was the moving soul 
of all his speaking with tongues. God was the witness of 
his love, whom he served with his spirit in the Gospel of 
His Son, (Eom. i. 9.) Therefore, though he could speak 
with tongues more than they all, he strove most, and loved 
best, to speak God's word so plainly " with the under- 
standing," that the most unlearned who heard him might 
say ''Amen" to it. ''In the church I had rather speak 
five words with my understanding, than ten thousand 
words in an unknown tongue," (1 Cor. xiv. 19.) He 
gladly bore to have the "milk" of his apostolic teaching (1 
Cor. iii. 2) less valued by the Corinthians, than the malm- 
sey of their speaking in tongues ; but he bears down all 
who think themselves prophets, or spiritual, by this crush- 
ing sentence : — " The things that I write unto you are the 
commandments of the Lord," (1 Cor. xiv. 37;) cutting 
short those who will not acknowledge church precepts 
and order as "the commandments of the Lord," by saying : 
" But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant," (1 Cor. 
V. 38.) But not only was the speaking with tongues 
valueless in Paul's eye, unless the sounding instrument be 
tuned by love ; but he goes further : — " And though I have 
the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all 
knowledge ; and though I have aU faith, so that I could 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 161 

remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." 
We know him, the man of prophecy, and of knowledge in 
the mystery of Christ, the preacher of the Gospel; but 
though his knowledge and prophecy were no more "in part," 
but already *' perfect," after the manner of " seeing face to 
face," yet would he not be acknowledged by Christ, but be 
" a cast-away," unless he preached the Gospel out of love 
to Him and to souls, whom the preached Word is powerful 
to win and save. It was, therefore, with a shepherd's care 
and love, with the wisdom of a father and the tenderness 
of a mother, yea, and the carefulness of a nurse, (1 Thess. 
ii. 7,) that the Apostle of the Gentiles cared for the sheep 
and lambs whom he had brought into the fold of Christ. 
In "labour of love" (1 Thess. i 3) we have seen the 
"labourer together with God" (1 Cor. iii. 9) accomplish 
his course from Corinth to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to 
Eome. All his epistles draw forth the treasure of pro- 
phecy and doctrine out of a heart filled with holy delight 
in his flocks. Love taught him not to please himseK in 
writing to them, not to be led away by his own, though 
spiritual, inclination, but to speak and write always and 
everywhere to edification, without any unfaithful keeping 
back of what was profitable unto them, (Acts xx. 20,) 
whether it please or displease, (Gal. i. 10 ; 1 Thess. ii. 4, 
5 ;) but also without any unchaste obtrusion of mysteries 
improfitable to godliness. " For whether we be beside 
ourselves, it is to God ; or whether we be sober, it is for 
your cause," he writes to the Corinthians, (2 Cor. v. 13,) to 
whom his slanderers had probably whispered into the ear 
that their dry and sober teacher, Paul, lacked that genial 
flight of enthusiasm to be expected of an apostle. Casual 
throughout, serving actual wants, and suited to individual 
circumstances, are all his apostolic epistles, while inspired 
by the Comforter and dictated by the love of Christ ; and 

L 



162 ST PAUL. 

exactly so they required all to be written, in order to 
strike into heart and life — then, now, and at all times. 
Without love, the preacher Paul had not only himself been 
unblest, but without that love, which — taught by the 
Spirit — gave him the measure and wording of wholesome 
doctrine in all things, the Church of Christ would not 
have had in him the man, who, as he came to the Eomans, 
comes to us all "in the fulness of the blessing of the 
Gospel of Christ," (Eom. xv. 29.) How intent he was not 
to be a mere verbal preacher of the Gospel, but by his life 
also to shew forth the self-sacrificing love of Christ, we are 
made to feel by his equally bold and humble words : " It 
were better for me to die, than that any man should make 
my glorying void. For though I preach the Gospel, I 
have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me; 
yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel!" So 
effectually had the Lord called him to preach the Gospel, 
that to shrink from it would have been mortal sin to him. 
To a voluntary labourer's wages the '' miprofitable ser- 
vant" (Luke xvii. 10) laid no claim. With him it indeed 
was " life for life." And therefore he felt it his duty in 
his own person to forego the reward, of which otherwise 
the labourer in the Gospel is worthy, (Luke x. 7 ; 1 Thess. 
V. 18 J and to preach the same "without charge," (1 Cor. 
ix. 14-18.) But though he '' could remove mountains" by 
faith, to which "nothing shall be impossible," (Matt. xvii. 
20,) yet were he "nothing," unless his wonder-working 
faith fl Cor. xii. 9) be but the handmaid of love. An 
apostle's signs truly were wrought among the Corinthians, 
but before those of " wonders and mighty deeds " he puts 
love's own sign, that of "patience," (2 Cor. xii. 12.) So, 
like a true follower of his Master, he humbly refrained from 
using his gift of working miracles, (1 Cor. xii. 10,) other- 
wise than in love to others, not to his own pleasing. While 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 163 

Publius' father and many others were healed by him on 
the same island, (Acts xxviii. 8, 9J he writes, in sad yet 
humble resignation, to Timothy : " But Trophimus have 
I left at Miletum sick," (2 Tim. iv. 20.) He had been 
afraid to rob this brother of the blessings of an illness, to 
please himself by his company, when restored to health. 
That with him genuine and "full" deeds were only those 
of love, we have seen in Eom. xiii. " And though I 
bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give 
my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth 
me nothing." Therefore he wished to "seal" to the church 
at Jerusalem the " fruit" of the love of her daughter 
churches by his testimony of its genuineness, (Eom. xv. 
28,) — viz., that it was a " fruit of their righteousness," (2 
Cor. ix. 10.) This may also throw light upon the perse- 
cuted Apostle's flight from city to city. Love rendered 
him as capable of escaping the crown of martyrdom, though 
he had to be let '' through a window in a basket," (2 Cor. 
xi. 33,) as it made him ready to sufier all things for the 
Gospel's sake and its confessors. 

And now (from ver. 4) Paul conducts us into a garden 
of love, where bed upon bed stands furnished with hea- 
venly plants. His own heart was such a garden of love. 
" Into thy heart," says Gregory the Great, " must thou dip 
the pen that shall write the truth legibly into others' 
hearts." This did Paul. " Charity suffereth long and is 
kind." Paul was no stranger to Adam's common legacy, 
selfishness ; nay, his own was rather sharply developed in 
a naturally harsh temper of choleric rashness. But, lo, 
what hath grace made of him ! How lovely does the 
double flower of long-suflfering and kindness exhale her 
sweet fragrance in this man of God ! The follower of Him 
he has become, in whom Matthew sees Isaiah's word ful- 
filled, (Isa. xlii. 2, 3.) "He shaU not strive, nor cry; 



164 ST PAUL. 

neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets. A 
bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He 
not quench/' (Matt. xii. 19, 20.) In "beseeching" and 
"praying" lay the power of this ''ambassador for Christ," 
(2 Cor. V. 20.) It was " by long-suffering and kindness, by 
the Holy Ghost and love unfeigned," that this " soldier of 
Christ " so successfully wielded the weapons of his war- 
fare, (2 Cor. vi. 6.) Had he to rebuke ? he would rather 
than "with a rod" do so "in love, and in the spirit of 
meekness," (1 Cor. iv. 21.) Was he grieved over their 
"divisions?" he would "beseech" them as "brethren," 
(1 Cor. i. 10;) always, and first of all, thanking God on 
their behalf for the grace of God given them by Jesus 
Christ, (ib. ver. 4.) When speaking to children who de- 
meaned themselves, as if they could sit in judgment over 
their "weak," "despised," "persecuted," and everywhere 
" buflfeted " fathers, he could indeed give expression to his 
emotion in words which must have been felt by them like 
spears and lances, as in 1 Cor. iv. 8, &c. " Now ye are 
fuU, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us ; 
and I would to God ye did reign, [viz., as Christians shall 
reign with Christ,] that we also might reign with you. 
We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ, 
[know how to adorn with wise words the foolish word of 
the Cross :] we are weak, but ye are strong : ye are hon- 
ourable, but we are despised." But what makes him write 
so ? It was the genuine earnestness of love. " I write 
not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I 
warn you." Might some, against whom he was " bold," 
even think of him, as if he "walked according to the 
flesh ? " (2 Cor. x. 2,) before God he was manifest in the 
love of the Spirit. Full of tender forbearance, he opens his 
Second Epistle to the Corinthians by relating to that con- 
gregation, which had caused him so much griel^ aU his 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 165 

sufferings, comforting himself by their prayers for him, 
(2 Cor. i. 11.) "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a 
kindness ; and let him reprove me ; it shall be an excellent 
oil, which shall not break my head : for yet my prayer 
also shall be in their calamities," (Ps. cxli. 5.) These 
words of the man after God's heart found their counterpart 
here, and were acted over again between Paul and the 
Corinthians; for friendlier reproved than they were by 
him could no one be. To their love he appeals, even he 
whom they had deeply grieved by the want of it ; " having 
confidence," he says, " in you all, that my joy is the joy of 
you all," (2 Cor. ii. 3.) With what lovely tenderness does 
he write : " If any " (he forbears to name the incestuous 
person) " have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but 
in part ; that I may not overcharge you all, [with him.] 
Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was 
inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to 
forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such an one 
should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Where- 
fore I beseech you, that ye would confirm your love toward 
him," (2 Cor. ii. 5-8.) Yea, that he had to afflict his 
beloved Corinthians by a punitive epistle, even them who 
indeed should have made him glad, and in whom he ought 
rather to have rejoiced, (2 Cor. ii. 2, 3,) this went so to his 
heart, that he had already repented of it ; but now he re- 
joiced and thanked God for it, seeing that, through His 
grace, it had wrought in them a '' godly sorrow," so that 
they might receive damage by him in nothing, (2 Cor. vii. 
8, 9.) Where he draws the picture of an honest servant 
of God, he exclaims : "0 ye Corinthians, our mouth is 
open unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not strait- 
ened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. 
Now, for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my 
children,) be ye also enlarged," (2 Cor. vi. 11-13.) Finally, 



166 ST PAUL. 

after the whole earnestness and holy zeal of an apostle 
had, like a heavy thnnder-clond, discharged itself over the 
heads of the Corinthians, or rather their disturbers, there 
breaks through the scattered clouds, like the sun in its 
noontide brightness, all the kindness and gentleness of 
love : " Finally, brethren, farewell, [literally, rejoice.] Be 
perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace ; 
and the God of love and peace shall be with you,"' (2 Cor. 
xiii. 11.) Such was their apostle ! a beseecher " by the 
meekness and gentleness of Christ," (2 Cor. x. 1.) Truly 
this Second Epistle to the Corinthians is itself a commen- 
tary throughout on that passage, " We persuade men : but 
are made manifest unto God," (2 Cor. v. 11.) "Without 
dissimulation" indeed was the Apostle's love, and un- 
mixed with any effeminacy ; decided his break with evil — 
he abhorred it ; firm his love of good — he clave unto it, 
(Eom. xii. 9.) Hardened sinners he "delivered unto 
Satan," (1 Cor. v. 5 ; 1 Tim. i. 20 ;) yet bore them but the 
more fervently upon his heart to the saving of their spirit, 
(cf. 2 Cor. ii. 5-11,) and charged Timothy to do the same, 
(2 Tim. ii. 25, 26.) "0 foolish Galatians," he exclaims, 
with energetic indignation, "who hath bewitched you, 
that ye should not obey the truth?" (Gal. iii. 1.) Yet how 
affectionately does he ''beseech" them not to be snared 
into bondage again unto the "weak and beggarly ele- 
ments." " Brethren," he says, " be as I am ; for I am as 
ye are," (Gal. iv. 12.) And not to shame them before a 
third person, he wrote to them, against his custom, with 
his "own hand," a "large letter," literally, in large letters, 
that they might not need a reader, thus seeking to please 
them, (Gal. vi. 11.) The same desire is touchingly evidenced 
by his postscript '' token in every epistle " which he wrote 
by dictation, (2 Thess. iii. 17.) Sometimes, as he takes up 
the pen to write " the salutation by me Paul with mine 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 167 

own hand," (1 Cor. xvi. 22,) he is moved with indignation 
when he thinks of the false brethren among those he 
addresses, and adds, '' If any man love not the Lord Jesus 
Christ, let him be Anathema, Maran-atha," ere he continues, 
" The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My 
love be w^ith you all in Christ Jesus." At other times he 
will feel his hand cramped by the fetters which bind him 
to the soldier who guards him, (Acts xxviii. 16, 20,) and 
adds to "the salutation by the hand of me Paul," — '^Ee- 
member my bonds," (CoL iv. 18.) But he always ends by 
wishing them "grace," to which at times he adds a few 
last words of affectionate remembrance, such as, '' My love 
be with you all in Christ Jesus." * In the kindliness of 
his friendship he does not think it too mean to watch with 
a mother's tender care over the health of his young son 
Timothy : " Drink no longer water, but use a little wme 
for thy stomach's sake, and thine often infirmities," (1 
Tim. V. 23.) With all his freedom in Christ to enjoin 
Philemon that which is convenient, he will rather beseeoh 
him for love's sake, (Philem. viii. 9.) The Philippians' 
care and liberality he acknowledges in a manner that 
makes one feel that he rejoices in the soul of the givers, 
and accepts for their joy what they so gladly give, (Phil. 
iv. 10, &c.) And now, one glance still upon that saluta- 
tion chapter, Eom. xvi. It is fuU of gentle and affection- 
ate love. First he commends Phoebe, the bearer of the 
epistle, as his kind " succourer," to the love of the Eoman 
church. Next he greets Priscilla and Aquila, and remem- 
bers with fervent gratitude their services in the Lord to 
all the churches of the Gentiles. In the remembrance of 
his love lives Epsenetus beside Stephanas, as the ''first- 

* Cf. the introduction to the instructive work " The Life and Epistles 
of St Paul," by W. J. Conybeare and J. S. Howson. London. 1853. 
Vol. L, p, xii. 



168 ST PAUL, 

fruits of Achaia," (1 Cor. xvi. 5.) Mary's much labour 
bestowed on him he cannot forget ; neither what Androni- 
cus and Junia, his kinsmen and fellow-prisoners have been 
to him before he was in Christ.* All are " his beloved," 
yet only three of them he greets expressly with this epi- 
thet, probably because they most needed his assurance of 
it. Of Amplias, he says specially that he was worthy of his 
love ''in the Lord." With Apelles ''approved in Christ" 
he joins them of Aristobulus' household, and with his kins- 
man Herodion them of Narcissus' household — ^with poor 
domestics the free, who were one with them in the Lord. 
Tryphena and Tr3rphosa, two female labourers, he greets 
before ; but trusts to their modesty that they will gladly 
join him in saying, that she hath " laboured much in the 
Lord." And how tenderly does he express his love in 
saluting " Eufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and 
mine." Lastly, he salutes two pairs, each of five, with 
evident pleasure in their communion, and lets them know 
to their surprise that their names obscure in the world are 
remembered and borne in his heart. " "With an holy kiss " 
he seals these thirty salutations. In this kindly manner 
did the man upon whom came daily "the care of all the 
churches," (2 Cor. xi. 28,) which lay scattered over east 
and west, bear the single souls of them individually upon 
his heart, with love's affectionate remembrance. 

" Charity envieth not." Might ApoUos be preferred to 
him by the fastidious Corinthians ? Paul grudged him not 
that gift of eloquence himself lacked, nor thought for a 
moment of suspecting his fellow-servant in the Lord to 
have had any share in the Corinthians' strife and divisions, 

* Here tlie author supposes Paul to have borne his kinsmen's prayers for 
him, before he was in Christ, in grateful remembrance, and dees not meais 
to insinuate that they had been at all directly instrumental in his conversion, 
which the peculiar and sudden manner of it forbids us to think. — Tb. 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 169 

(cf. 1 Cor. iii. and iv. 6.) Yea, so far was he from any 
feeling of jealonsy, that he did all he could to prevail on 
Apollos to return to Corinth, (1 Cor. xvi. 12.) When he 
learnt at Eome that some were preaching Christ even of 
envy and strife, " supposing" — i.e., wishing by their conten- 
tion — " to add affliction to his bonds," and thus eventually 
to see him shut out from all the honour of evangelical 
preaching, he was so free from ignoble envy, that he could 
write : " What then ? notwithstanding, every way, whether 
in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached ; and I therein 
do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice, (Phil. i. 15-18.) An 
envious Paul, how absurd it sounds ! JSTo, the man who 
has transmitted to us the Lord's saying, "It is more 
blessed to give than to receive," (Acts xx. 35,) and who so 
richly tasted the blessedness of giving, could suffer no 
" rottenness in his bones," (Prov. xiv. 30.) 

"Charity vaunteth not itseK, is not puffed up, doth 
not behave itself unseemly." This tricolor also belongs 
to Paul's heraldry of love. A pert and saucy boy, (who, it 
should seem, was as well acquainted with the rod — c£ Heb. 
xii. 9 — as poor little Martin,*) and a bold, forward youth Saul 
doubtless was. A rash temper, haughty demeanour, and 
obstinate, dogmatical spirit, we may, without fear of 
slander, ascribe to his unsubdued and determined nature. 
And now, in how different a light does the character of 
''the man of love" stand before us, even in the smallest 
matters ! Did the obstinacy of his old Adam once shew 
itself in the sharp contention he had with Barnabas about 
Mark? (Acts. xv. 37-39,) this only proves how tightly 
otherwise he held his flesh in reins by the spirit. Most 
lovely does this reining in, the moderation, or let me call 
it the holy collectedness of the man of love, appear in his 
character as shepherd tending the weak among his flock ; 

* Luther. 



170 ST PAUL. 

in whicli character he was best known to the Corinthians : 
" Eor though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, 
yet have ye not many fathers ; for in Christ Jesus I have 
begotten you through the Gospel. Wherefore I beseech 
you, be ye followers of me," (1 Cor. iv. 15, 16.) He had 
the shepherd's heart and kindly care of a Jacob : '' My 
Lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks 
and herds with young are with me ; and if men should 
overdrive them one day, all the flock will die," (Gen. - 
xxxiii. 13.) The parable of the imperceptibly-growing 
seed, (Mark iv. 26-29,) this the labourer in God's hus- 
bandry had apprehended with the sense of love, and he 
acted accordingly. The unfeigned humility of this high 
Apostle is the best comment on the word ''charity vaunteth 
not itself, is not puffed up." As oft as he addresses his 
flocks — Christ's flocks — as " brethren," he includes himself 
as their fellow-sinner, and partaker with them of the same 
grace of Jesus Christ. When longing to impart to the 
Eomans some spiritual gift to the end they may be estab- 
lished, he at once adds : " That is, that I may be comforted 
together with you by the mutual faith both of you and 
me," (Eom. i, 11, 12 ;) yea, he almost apologises for his 
boldness in writing to them : " And I myself also am per- 
suaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of good- 
ness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one 
another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more 
boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, 
because of the grace that is given to me of God," (Eom. xv. 
14, 15.) Thus he entirely subjected his own gift of grace to 
preach the Word under the grace of the Word itself, and set 
himself the example to his brethren in walking after the rule, 
that no man should think of himself more highly than he 
ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath 
dealt to every man the measure of faith, (Eom. xii. 3,) " Who 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 171 

then is Paul ? " he asks, jealous for God's honour, " and 
who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even 
as the Lord gave to every man ? I have planted, Apollos 
watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither 
is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth ; 
but God that giveth the increase," (1 Cor. iii. 5-7.) 
'' Charity is not puffed up," might especially remind the 
Corinthians, inflated with the conceit of their knowledge, 
of what Paul had before said : " Knowledge puffeth up, 
but charity edifieth," (1 Cor. viii. 1.) Who possessed the 
gift of knowledge more then he ? But he would have the 
weak and less-gifted brethren to be undespised, and every- 
where he used the power which the Lord had given him 
" to edification, and not to destruction," (2 Cor. x. 8, xiii. 10.) 
The third property of love also — its good grace and pro- 
per tact, which leads it not to behave itself unseemly — is 
finely stamped in Paul's character. Sober and honest, 
just and true, gracious and edifying, pure and lovely is 
the Christian walk in love to which he so often exhorts, 
(Eom. xii. 17, xiii. 13; Eph. iv. 29; Phil. iv. 8,) and 
wherein he sets the example, A gracious and noble 
demeanour is perhaps the most prominent feature in his 
conduct towards all men. "We may here be reminded of 
the magistrates at Philippi — the chiefs of Asia at Ephesus 
— the chief captain, Claudius Lysias — the two governors, 
Felix and Festus — King Agrippa and Julius the Eoman 
centurion, — all of whom were forced to admire the cour- 
teous frankness, decorum and propriety of the ''prisoner" of 
the Lord. Neither did his brotherly love behave itself un- 
seemly. He was far from thinking that the intimacy and 
close communion of brethren in Christ at all exempt them 
from due attention to proper deportment, and all that 
is becoming in the various relations of life. He warns 
servants not to despise their "believing masters," under 



172 ST PAUL. 

the pretence that '' they are brethren," (1 Tim. vi. 2 ;) and 
with the exhortation to "be kindly affectioned one to 
another with brotherly love," he couples that of " in honour 
preferring one another," (Eom. xii. 10.) With his sense 
of laudable Christian order he deemed it essential to have 
a brother co-ordinated with him for the conveyance of 
the churches' gift to Jerusalem. Well might he 
have claimed their miconditional confidence, but he rather 
chose the lowlier and more regardful way, as thereby 
"avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this 
abundance which is administered by us : providing for 
honest things, [i. e., having regard to fair dealing,] not 
only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of 
men," (2 Cor. viii. 19-21.) 

Charity " seeketh not her own," — not her pleasure, not 
her reward, not her honour, not her liberty, yea, we dare 
add, not her salvation ; for altogether she does not seek her 
own advantage, but that of others, — "love is life in 
others." This heavenly flower — disinterestedness — is the 
queen in the garden of love, and all others emit their sweet 
odours perfumed by hers. Therefore we should have to 
tell the life of Paul over again, as that of a man in Christ, 
would we rightly estimate his disinterested, self-sacrificing 
love. The Corinthians indeed, in reading these words, 
" charity seeketh not her own," must have seen the man 
of love stand bodily before their eyes, the man who could 
write to them, — them who had, alas ! sought their own in re- 
lation with him, their truest friend. " Eeceive us ; we have 
wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have 
defrauded no man" — here his affectionate heart checks, 
and at once impels him to mitigate the gentle reproach im- 
plied in this self-defence, by immediately adding : " I speak 
not this to condemn you, for I have said before, that ye 
are in our hearts" (he includes Timothy and Titus) ''to die 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 173 

and live with you. Great is my boldness of speech toward 
you, great is my glorying of you : I am filled with comfort, 
I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation," (2 Cor. vii. 2-4.) 
And what was it that thus iilled him with comfort, and 
made him so exceeding joyful, even in all his tribulation ? 
It was the Corinthians' godly sorrow, and their repentance 
to salvation, (ib. ver. 9, 10.) For what else did he seek by 
them but the salvation of their souls? " I seek not yours, 
but you," he says ; ''for the children ought not to lay up 
for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I 
will do more than that — ^very gladly spend and be spent 
for you ; though the more abundantly I love you, the less 
I be loved." With cutting irony he gives them to under- 
stand that in one thing only he had treated them " inferior 
to other churches " — viz., in the letting them feel the dis- 
interestedness of his love ; " forgive me this wrong." And 
then, with that humour in which he is fond at times to 
clothe his most solemn earnest, (Luther resembles him in 
this,) he prevents their reply by saying, " But be it so, I 
did not burden you ; nevertheless, being crafty, I caught 
you with guile." Forthwith, however, he assumes his usual 
seriousness, and adds, in deep earnest, "We speak before 
God in Christ ; but we do all things, dearly beloved, for 
your edifying," (2 Cor. xii. 13-19.) Neither there sought 
Paul his own, where, by " glorying " in the abundance of 
his labours and sufferings, he seeks to wring from the Co- 
rinthians the acknowledgment of his apostolical dignity; 
yea, hardly anywhere has he exercised greater self-denial 
than when compelled, by those of whom he ought to have 
been commended, to "become a fool in glorying," (2 Cor. 
xii. 11.) Luther once drolly said, "I must be my own 
cuckoo." How mortifying that to the selfish, vainglorious 
Adam ! Or did Paul indeed seek his own in the gTeatest 
glory of his life — to stake and forsake all for the work of 



174 ST PAUL. 

Christ, to win souls for Him? Did lie misuse the name of 
Christ for vainglory ? "I trust that ye shall know that 
we are not reprobates/' (unapproved,) he writes to the Co- 
rinthians, (2 Cor. xiii. 6,) and adds, '' Now I pray to God 
that ye do no evil ; not that we should appear approved, 
but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be 
as reprobates," (without occasion to prove our approved- 
ness by the exercise of apostolical discipline.) In the place 
where he expresses his deep satisfaction at the Philippians 
'^ holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the 
day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured 
in vain" and assures them of his readiness to ''be offered" 
with joy "upon the sacrifice and service of their faith," — 
there his mind is so purely bent upon the honour of Christ, 
and the salvation of his brethren, that he commends 
Timothy to them in these words : " For I have no man 
like-minded, who will naturally care for your state. For 
all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's," 
(Phil. ii. 16-21.) How he exhorted himself with that ex- 
hortation, " Eejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep 
with them that weep," (Eom. xii. 1 5,) has often been noted 
in our sketch. ''Who is weak, and I am not weak? who 
is offended, and I burn not ?" (2 Cor. xi. 29.) Love taught 
him to lose himself in others, and to suppress his sorrow 
in participation of their welfare and joy. When at Eome 
he heard of the Philippians' deep sympathy with Epaphro- 
ditus, who had been "sick nigh unto death," he deemed it 
" necessary " speedily to send him to them, " that, when 
ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the 
less sorrowful," (Phil, ii, 25-28.) Still stronger than we 
have before heard him declare to the Corinthians his readi- 
ness to be offered a sacrifice for their faith, he expresses, 
himself in Eom. ix. 3, a passage which can only be under- 
stood by taking his love to be a reflection of Christ's own. 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 175 

"I could wish/' he says, ''that myself were accursed 
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the 
flesh." If it were possible to be accursed from Christ with- 
out being wicked, Paul could wish to forego the enjoyment 
of Christ's blessed presence, and his peace and joy in Him, 
for the sake of his unhappy brethren. Charity seeketh 
not her own. 

" Is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not 
in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." Who — next after 
Christ — was ever fed with gall as Paul was ? But that his 
was a love not easily provoked is not shewn only by the 
word just quoted, and "the truth" of which ''in Christ" 
— as well knowing what therewith he was saying — he 
called upon the Holy Ghost to witness, (Eom. ix. 1 ;) but 
his whole walk, from the day of his conversion to his ar- 
rival at Eome, as St Luke has spread it before us in " The 
Acts," is one chain of unprovoked and indestructible love 
to even his bitterest enemies, the unbelieving Jews. We 
have ediiied ourselves by it, when considering Paul, " the 
labourer," in his gleaning of the Jewish vineyard ; and no 
less in Paul, " the prisoner of Jesus Christ," bound for the 
hope of Israel. I have read of a Christian who had brought 
his violent, choleric temper so completely into subjection 
to the spirit of meekness, that at no affront would he move 
a muscle of his face, but a gentle smile about his mouth 
would indicate that he was occupied in burying himself 
with Jesus. In Paul we see this heroism of love to a de- 
gree which it might list angels to behold, to the praise of 
Jesus Christ, whose follower he was. Not by unbelievino- 
Jews and " false brethren " only, but also by ungrateful 
children and unfaithful friends was his love put to the test ; 
and Satan, doubtless, would often enough stir up the old 
Adam to flatter the meek Apostle into a "thinking of 
evil," a bearing in mind, if not resenting, of some expe- 



176 ST PAUL. 

rienced injury. Moses, by the Holy Ghost, gives himself 
this testimony : " N'ow the man Moses was very meek, 
above all the men which were upon the face of the earth," 
(N'nm. xii. 3.) In Paul's life are similar traces. In 
highest objectivity he could write of himself: "Ye are 
witnesses, and God also, how holily, and justly, and un- 
blameably, we behaved ourselves among you that believe," 
(1 Thess. ii. 10.) But as Moses broke the tables in "hot 
waxed anger," and could both smite and intercede for his 
people at the same time, (cf Exod. xxxii. 19, &c.,) so Paul 
also gave ''place unto wrath," (Eom. xii. 19,) be it by 
imprecation over the wicked : " The Lord reward him 
according to his works ;" or by deprecation, in behalf of 
weak and cross-shy disciples : "I pray God that it may 
not be laid to their charge," (2 Tim. iv. 14, 16.) A reflection 
of Stephen's face, which once he saw as that of an angel, 
now rested upon his own, softened by the love of Christ. It 
had indeed been but human, had he felt a certain satis- 
faction in the misfortunes of the perverse Jews ; but he 
had drunk of Divine love, that rejoiceth not in iniquity, 
(injustice and wrong,) even where this is meted out to the 
wicked by instruments ordained for it. Therefore we find 
him stiU at Eome, guarding himself against the suspicion, 
as if he had aught to accuse his nation of, (Eom. xxviii. 
19.) Alas ! she was accused enough ; and Paul, with a 
true patriot's pang, already saw the Eoman eagles gather 
to their vengeful repast. Paul's love was drawn from 
that of Christ, who, " when He beheld the city, wept over 
it," (Luke xix. 41.) " But rejoiceth in the truth;" yea, at 
the victory of truth the heart of the man of love beats 
with very joy. In the joy of a holy love to the Church, 
we have seen him do his work and labour of love ; and 
joy together with them in the truth, was the signature of 
his Christian and apostolic life. As St John "the elder" 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 177 

had no greater joy than to find his children walk in truth, 
(2 John iv.,) so likewise Paul, the founder and chief pastor 
of many churches, and the ''helper" of their joy in all, 
(2 Cor. i. 24.) His whole heart leaps with joy when he 
beholds the grace and truth of the Gospel in the blessed 
churches of his planting. " Therefore, my brethren, dearly 
beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in 
the Lord, my dearly beloved," (Phil. iv. 1.) ''Now we 
live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. Por what thanks can 
we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith 
we joy for your sakes before our God?" (1 Thess. iii. 8, 9.) 
jN'early all his letters he begins with gladsome thanks to 
God ; yea, an unceasing thank-offering must have ascended 
to heaven in the prayers and intercessions of this inde- 
fatigable servant of Christ, — " I thank my God upon every 
remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for 
you all, making request with joy, for your fellowship in the 
gospel from the first day until now," (Phil. i. 3-5.) His 
patient love would care to see the least beginnings in 
Christian life fostered in the " weak" and " feeble-minded," 
yea, and the "unruly" also; in short, all the new and 
weak converts he would have the brethren at Thessalo- 
nica bear with patience, (1 Thess. v. 14.) Por wherever a 
congregation was gathered in Christ around His gospel, 
there he beheld "the rivers of water" flow, and trees both 
great and small, planted by the side of them, grow up to 
the praise of the Lord, bringing forth their fruit in their 
season, (Ps. i. 3.) His highest joy, and the one which 
nearest resembled that of the Good Shepherd hunself, we 
see the loving pastor evince on the return of some stray 
sheep to the fold. Pive times he expresses his joy over 
the godly sorrowful in that precious chapter, 2 Cor. vii. 
Like wave upon wave, it rushes along from his overflowing 
heart in the fourth verse, — " Great is my boldness of 

M 



178 ST PAUL. 

speech toward you, great is my glorying of you : I am 
filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribu- 
lation/' With that love which " rejoiceth in the truth" did 
he bear the individual souls of his numerous congregations 
in his heart. " I have you in my heart," he says to his be- 
loved Philippians, (chap. i. 7 ;) and to the Corinthians in the 
chapter just referred to, (ver. 3,) ''Ye are in our hearts to 
die and live with you." Every progress, every important 
turning-point in his labours, he communicates to them, 
while his love believes that his joy is theirs also ; as, on 
the other hand, whatever happened to them, both in good 
days and evil, found in him always a ready echo, either of 
inmost joy or heartfelt sympathy, — " Whether one mem- 
ber suffer, all the members suffer with it ; or one member 
be honoured, all the members rejoice with it," (1 Cor. xii. 
26.) Such is the Church of Christ, and such was Paul 
her member — a true " Churchman," whose life was organic 
with hers. But this will be the subject for another — the 
last — chapter. 

ISTow for love's fourfold triumph sung by Paul : — She 
" beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, 
endureth all things." Love is unconquerable. "Set me 
as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm : for 
love is strong as death," (Cant. viii. 6.) What shall quench 
her flame ? Loads of trouble ? she beareth all things. 
Distrust and suspicion? she believeth all things. The 
headstrong and maliciously perverse? she hopeth all things. 
The enmity and persecution of the wicked ? she endureth 
all things. Beloved reader, thou hast found in this sketch 
many traits already of this fourfold conquerous love in 
Paul's soul. Yet grudge not the pains of looking at the 
man of love once more, as in the garden of love he 
stands clad in the "arms" of these four flower-de-luces. 
Had the Galatians exhausted his painstaking and pains- 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 179 

bearing love ? Well might he, with " the marks of the 
Lord Jesus in his body/' demand of them henceforth to 
trouble him no more. Yet, that he held them firm in 
love's embrace, willing to cover with the mantle of love 
all their follies and declensions, if they would but man 
their souls to a return to Christ, they could plainly read 
between the lines of even his sharpest reproof, — " I desire 
to be present with you now, and to change my voice ; for 
I stand in doubt of you," (Gal. iv. 20.) He longed to be 
present, and to speak with them, like a mother, in tender 
love, upbraiding her naughty children. In the last word 
still of this epistle of sorrow, he unfolds his love that 
beareth all things, and will not quit her hold of a single 
soul, — " Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be 
with your spirit. Amen." Or did his faith in the Corin- 
thians give way because there were heretics among them, 
that had well-nigh succeeded in estranging from him and 
Christ's Gospel this beloved flock, the seal of his apostle- 
ship ? (1 Cor. ix. 1, &c.) " There must be heresies among 
you," he writes, " that they which are approved may be 
made manifest among you," (1 Cor. xi. 19.) In both 
epistles to them that inventive love, which seeks to turn 
everything to the best, and therefore beareth and believeth 
all things, shines through every page. With an ingenuity 
and delicacy which only love inspires, he catches at every 
chord of their heart, — " I speak as to wise men ; judge ye 
what I say," (1 Cor. x. 15 ; cf. xi. 2,) — in order to draw them 
out of the entanglements of falsehood to integrity and up- 
rightness ; and boldly he believes that the fire of the last 
day, though it will consume every carnal superstructure 
reared by them, yet shall spare the believers' own Lives, 
if built on Jesus Christ, the only foundation, (1 Cor. iii. 
11-15.) His hope of them is steadfast, (2 Cor. i. 7,) and 
he rejoices that he has confidence in them in all things, 



180 ST PAUL. 

(2 Cor. vii. 16.) Or did the Jews mock his hope for them 
away from his heart ? He indeed mourns with David that 
their full table of grace is made a snare unto them " alway " 
(Eom. xi. 9, 10 ;) yet he will not permit this to wrest from 
him his heart's desire and prayer to God that they may be 
saved, (Eom. x. 1.) And though "blindness in part hath 
happened to Israel," yet his love is bold enough to hope for 
God's "mercy upon all/' (Eom. xi. 31, 32.) Or, lastly, did 
he faint or grow impatient under the trials of unceasing 
persecutions ; and the more, when even " all they in Asia 
turned away" from him? (2 Tim. i. 15.) Nay, in face 
of his martyrdom, he puts Timothy in mind of his " doc- 
trine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, 
patience," under all '' persecutions " and '' afflictions," 
which came unto him ''at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra;" 
adding, — "but what persecutions I endured, out of them all 
the Lord delivered me," (2 Tim. iii. 10, 11.) And, finally, to 
stir up the same hope and patient love in his beloved son, 
that made him endure them, he charges him to " remem- 
ber that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from 
the dead, according to my gospel : wherein I suffer trouble 
as an evil-doer, even unto bonds ; but the word of God is 
not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's 
sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in 
Christ Jesus with eternal glory," (2 Tim. ii. 8-10.) 

N'or could such love fail to beget love. Paul certainly 
was also loved again of many. St Luke, who best under- 
stood and loved him, remained faithful to him to the very 
last, (2 Tim. iv. 11.) With unswerving devotion, too, did 
Silas justify his confidence in him ; and with unflinching 
fidelity and filial trust did Timothy and Titus remain at- 
tached to him. Aquila and Priscilla, Jason, Aristarchus, 
Epaphroditus, Clement, with many others his fellow-la- 



THE MAN OF LOVE. 181 

bourers, "whose names " — like that of his Philippian '' true 
yoke-fellow " — '' are in the book of life," (Phil. iv. 3,) loved 
him more than their own lives ; Epaphras, Tychicus, and 
many others, also were his " fellow-servants in the Lord," 
(cf. Col. iv. 7, &c.) In nearly all his epistles he speaks 
with fond and grateful remembrance of brethren that love 
him in the faith, (Tit. iii. 15.) " Comfort," ''refresh;" '' re- 
joice," and '' fill with joy," are his fond expressions when 
speaking of the love of his brethren. Therefore we find 
him in aU epistles, from first to last, filled with "great 
desire to see the face " of those that loved him, (Phil. i. 8 ; 
1 Thess. ii. 17; 2 Tim. i. 4, iv. 9.) Yea, the love of his 
children in Christ was his continual feast, and a foretaste 
of his heavenly joy. Think of his departure from Miletus! 
The Ephesians' prayers and tears, the blessings and salu- 
tations of peace of all his congregations, accompanied hun 
wherever he went. Their " much " love well-nigh broke 
his heart. Oh, he was suceptible of love ! " As an angel of 
God, even as Christ Jesus, ye received me," he recalls with 
sad remembrance to the memory of the Galatians. " Wliere 
is then the blessedness ye spake of ? for I bear you record, 
that, if it had been possible, ye would have, plucked out 
your eyes and have given them to me," (GaL iv. 14, 15.) 
But because to give is more blessed than to receive, he was 
indeed more blessed in the love he felt than in that he in- 
spired. 

Together with his assurance of salvation by faith, and 
the joy of his heirship in hope, Paul possessed the glory of 
love, which goes forth unchanged unto eternal joys, because 
she is heavenly life already on earth. " Charity never 
faileth." When prophecies shall " fail," through their final 
accomplishment ; when tongues shall " cease," in the har- 
monious language of all inhabitants of the New Jerusalem ; 



182 ST PAUL. 

when knowledge whicli is in part shall " vanisli away," in 
that which is perfect, — even then charity shall not fail; 
she will be the light of joy in the eye of knowledge, the 
sweetly moved heart in the voice of heavenly tongues. She 
will then be manifested in her unchangeable Divine nature ; 
freed from all stains of the flesh, and every haze of sin, she 
will shine forth in spotless lustre and imperishable beauty. 
He that sits on the throne of glory, Jesus Christ, is all love. 
Irradiated by His, that of the redeemed will blaze in efful- 
gent transparency ; our great Prototype's will be imaged iii 
theirs, and all rays centre in one luminous picture of love. 
The " beloved of God " are loved with an eternal love, for 
"their names are written in the book of life," in the heart 
of God and of the Lamb, the First-born among many 
brethren, who unceasingly exercises in the heavenly sanc- 
tuary the w^ork of perfect brotherly love. There we shall 
also meet our Paul, to love him for ever. The unity of the 
Church there and here — this militant, that triumphant ; of 
those walking still by faith in hope, and those living in 
visible glory — has its seal and pledge in the spirit of love, 
which never faileth. "And now abideth faith, hope, 
charity, these three ; but the greatest of these is charity." 
Augustine says in his " Soliloquies : " — " How should faith 
still have place, where the things believed in are seen ? how 
hope, where the things hoped for are possessed ? Love, 
however, shall not only lose naught, but enter into her own 
fulness ; for even in beholding yonder the only true and 
real Beauty, she will remain what she is, and increase her 
being ; yea, if she kept not unceasingly her eye open to the 
highest delight, she could not remain in her most blessed 
vision." " Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ," 
is Paul's word to the Church, and to us all. So help us 
God ! Amen. 



THE IVIAN OF LO\TS. 183 

Come, thou Spirit of pure Love, 
Who dost forth from God proceed ; 
IN'ever from my heart remove, 
Let me all thy impulse heed. 
All that seeks self-profit first, 
Eather than another's good — 
Whether foe or link'd in blood — 
Let me hold with Paul accurst ; 
And my heart henceforward be 
Only ruled, Love, by thee ! 



X. 

THE MAN OF THE CHUECH. 

" That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the 
house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and 
ground of the truth." — 1 Tim. iii. 15. 

It is remarkable that the false witnesses accusing Jesus 
before the council brought forth just this accusation, — "We 
have heard Him say, I will destroy this temple that is made 
with hands, and within three days I will build another 
made without hands," (Mark xiv. 58.) It shews us that the 
holy enigma, written over the portal of Christ's public entry 
upon His prophetic office, (John ii. 19,) had stung the 
carnal Jews to their very heart, and ever remained a thorn 
in their eyes. His first confessing martyr, Stephen, saw 
the same bitter, Temple-proud spirit of the Pharisees rise 
against him, as he bore witness for the true " house of God" 
— the Church of Christ. And here is the point where the 
grace of Jesus Christ met Paul, to reveal before his unveiled 
eyes the glorious character of Christ's Church, and to make 
that man of him whose Christian excellence is summed up 
in calling him " the man of the Church." I^o sooner had 
he known Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Saviour, 
than it was all over with his knowing any man — yea, were 
it even the man Christ — after the flesh, (2 Cor. v. 16.) 
Before the temple of the body of Christ he saw Zion's 
temple of stone grow pale. JSTevertheless, the Old Testa- 
ment house of God, the honour of which Stephen had surely 
left untouched, had become no lie with Paul, but, contrari- 



• THE MAN OF THE CHUECH. 185 

wise, a reality in Christ. There "the shadow of good 
things to come/' which the coming Christ cast before Him 
into Israel, the people of promise ; here the substance of 
the "good things " themselves in Christ, (Col. ii. 17; Heb. 
viii. 5, X. 1.) Therefore the New Testament Church was 
to him the unveiled Israel, receiving into her bosom the 
fulness of the Gentiles, (Rom. xi. 25, 26,) "the Israel of 
God," (Gal. vi. 16,) the replenished or fully realised " con- 
gregation of the Lord" — to wit, the New Testament 
Ecclesia is synonymous with the Old Testament Rahal — 
which has the Lord for her inheritance, and is again, on 
her part, the Lord's inheritance. As such Paul constantly 
views the Church of Christ, both in contrast with the car- 
nal Israel, (1 Cor. x. 16-18,) and as the people of the Spirit, 
come into the inheritance of the holy people of Israel, 
(Eph. i. 10, 11.) " The ends of the world " (1 Cor. x. 11) 
are come upon them that are of the faith of Israel ; and it 
was by losing himself in these " ends " that the Apostle 
found all his thoughts so richly redound to the praise of the 
Triune God and His " unspeakable gift," (2 Cor. ix. 15.) 

"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" It was from 
this ''me'' that Paul took the key which opened to him 
the '' great mystery concerning Christ and the Church," 
(Eph. V. 32.) In Christ dweUeth ''aU fulness," (Col. i. 
19,) and what was by figure intrusted to the people of 
Israel, among whom God dwelt, (2 Cor. vi. 16,) that is in 
full grace and truth imparted to the Church of Christ, 
"which is His body, the fulness of Him that fiUeth all in 
aU," (Eph. i. 23.) AU things in heaven and earth have 
been created by Him and for Him, (Col. i. 16,) and He 
filleth an things with the breath of His glorious power; and 
therefore needeth indeed no one for the consummation of 
His glory. But this is the mystery of His love, that He 
receives the congregation of His believing people into a 



186 ST PAUL. 

communion of good with Him, and makes them what He 
is — He the fulness of God, they the fulness of Christ, (1 Cor. 
iii. 23;) for so He is connected with them as the head with 
its body. By His vicarious death and resurrection He 
has become the head of His body, (Col. i. 18,) and from 
Him, as the head, the whole body, by joints and bands 
compacted and knit together into one, " increaseth with 
the increase of God," (Col. ii. 19 ; Eph. iv. 16.) The union 
of the sovereign Head with His subordinate members has 
its visible reflex in the matrimonial union of husband and 
wife, (Eph. V. 22, &c.) Yea, Paul joins head and members 
so intimately together into one whole, that of the body of 
the Church he says, " So also is Christ,'' (1 Cor. xii. 12,) — 
after the manner as the holy prophets call Christ the King 
of Israel, also simply '' Israel,'' (cf Isa. xlix. 8,) — and as 
what David sings, " I will give thanks unto Thee, Lord, 
among the heathen, and sing praises unto Thy name," (Ps. 
xviii. 49,) is fulfilled in the Church of the Gospel, (Eom. xv. 
9; cf Acts xiii. 47.) 

St Paul saw Jesus Christ in His heavenly glory. Where- 
in then consists the union of the head in heaven and the 
body on earth ? He became conscious of this mystery 
when, at his baptism by Ananias, he was filled with the 
Holy Ghost. " He that is joined unto the Lord is one 
spirit " with Him, as the wife is one flesh with her hus- 
band. A temple of the Holy Ghost is the body of every 
believer, (1 Cor. vi. 17, &c.,) and God's temple are all 
believers together, because the Spirit of God dwelleth in 
them, (1 Cor. iii. 16 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16 ;) they — all that are in 
Christ Jesus — grow together unto an holy temple in the 
Lord : in whom they are also builded together for an hab- 
itation of God through the Spirit, (Eph. ii. 21-22.) Unity 
of the Spirit is the unity of the members, both with their 
Head and with one another, (Eph. iv. 3 ;) for the presence 



THE MAN OF THE CHUECH. 187 

of tlie Lord in His Churcli is the presence of tlie Spirit, (2 
Cor. iii. 17.) But as Paul himself received not the Holy 
Ghost without outward means, nor was otherwise kept by 
Him with Christ in the one true faith, but in the Church, in 
which the Spirit dwells and works ; so he also now teaches 
that the Lord both effects and preserves the organic life of 
the body with its head by means of "joints and bands," min- 
istering nourishment to it. How thoroughly far ''the man 
of faith " and of the Spirit was from all fanaticism we have 
already seen, when viewing him in that character, (cf Chap. 
VII.) Whereupon, then, does he ground the bridal dignity 
of the Church ? Answer : " Christ loved the Church, and 
gave Himself for it ; that He might sanctify and cleanse it 
with the washing of water by the word, that He might 
present it to Himself a glorious Church," (Eph. v. 25-27.) 
But whereby is the body of Christ built ? By the Spirit 
are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or 
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and have been all 
made to drink into one Spirit, (1 Cor. xii. 13 ; cf. the Old 
Test, figure of this in 1 Cor. x. 1-4.) In fine, he that re- 
ceives the Spirit, receives Him " by the hearing of faith," 
(Gal. iii. 2.) It is the gracious work of the Spirit, in the 
audible word of preaching and the visible word of the sacra- 
ment, which begets and nourishes the Church, affiances 
her to Christ, and presents her to Him in bridal glory. 

In his circular epistle to the congregations in Ephesus 
and around it, wherein Paul more especially unfolds the 
mystery of the Church, at the building up and bodily ex- 
hibition of which in the whole world he labours, we read 
in the fourth chapter how " the edifying of the body of 
Christ" is accomplished by Christ's Spirit through the 
Word and Sacrament. He that ascended up far above all 
heavens, that He might fill all things with His divinely - 
human glory, does by His grace make Himself palpably 



188 ST PAUL. 

manifest in His Church on earth by means of the word of 
grace administered in His name by ministers of the Word. 
"And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and 
some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the 
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for 
the edifying of the body of Christ." Who could have 
borne richer testimony to these gifts which the risen and 
ascended Saviour "gave unto men" than the Apostle Paul, 
who was himself a right royal gift from the immediate 
hand of royalty ? Yet, deeply penetrated as he was with 
the peculiar costliness of the apostolic office intrusted to 
him " for obedience to the faith among all nations," (Eom. 
i. 5, xvi. 25, 26,) we, nevertheless, find him ever intent on 
emphasising and giving prominence to the essential unity 
of the "ministry of the New Testament," the "ministry of 
the Spirit," (2 Cor. iii.,) and the " ministry of reconcilia- 
tion," (2 Cor. V. 18.) Therefore, also, he loves best to speak 
by "we" and "us" where he speaks of the office of "min- 
isters" (under- workmen) "of Christ and stewards of the 
mysteries of God," (1 Cor. iv. 1 ;) therefore, too, he associ- 
ates his name in the introductory salutations of nearly all 
epistles with some of his colleagues — not only Timothy 
(often) and Silas (twice), but also his humble brother Sos- 
thenes, (1 Cor. i. 1;) therefore he says, (2 Cor. v. 20,) 
"we are ambassadors for Christ," and thus colleagues him- 
self with all other " messengers," like Peter and John with 
their elders, (1 Pet. v. 1 ; 2 and 3 John i.) " There are diver- 
sities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are differences 
of administrations, but the same Lord," (1 Cor. xii. 4, 5,) 
Jesus Christ, who in the apostolic office, to which He has 
called him, as well as the twelve, has planted the root to 
all offices in the Church, whereby and wherein the Holy 
Ghost works with His manifold gifts " to the edifying of 
the body of Christ." As in the manifold branches of a 



THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 189 

tree one and the same tree is exhibited, so in the various 
ministerial offices one and the same ministry, ordained and 
instituted by Christ for His Church, and therefore of 
Divine mandate and right, though in its historical develop- 
ment, after human right and ecclesiastical order, it is so, as 
it is. In the passage already quoted (Eph. iv.) the Apostle 
dissects the ministerial office into several distinct functions ; 
for what he means to say is, that the '' manifold gifts and 
differences of administration of the one Lord " do not hin- 
der but further the unity of the Church, (' ' unto every one 
of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of 
Christ;") but forthwith he comprehends again apostles, 
prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, as all set for 
"the work of the ministry," whose every object and end is 
the same, the ''perfecting of the saints," the "edifying of 
the body of Christ." The parallel passage to this (1 Cor. 
xii. 28) presents us the same blessed tree, as it shoots 
forth from the apostolic root into its various branches of 
gifts and offices. " God hath set some in the Church, first, 
apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that 
miracles; then gifts of healings, helps, governments," (i.e., 
working and administrative talents and operations,) " di- 
versities of tongues." The apostles, and pre-eminently Paul, 
stood there in the fulness of all gifts, wherewith the Holy 
Ghost furnishes and adorns the Church, and we see them 
executing the " whole work of the ministry," for the which, 
in their several capacities, prophets, evangelists, pastors, 
teachers, and other office-bearers are appointed. Thus — 
as being primarily ordained for "the ministry of the 
word," (Acts vi. 4,) called and gifted for the guidance of the 
entire service done in and through the word of the Gospel 
to the edifying of the Church — the apostles are, to borrow 
a current phrase, the " princes of the Church ; " and set as 
princes indeed they are to the Church of all times, for 



190 ST PAUL. 

their word is the fountain of all evangelical preaching ; and 
by it shall be judged, not only the twelve tribes of Israel, 
but we also, and all Gentiles. And this princely of&ce 
and prerogative is theirs exclusively. "Built upon the 
foundation of the apostles and prophets," the whole build- 
ing (of the Church) fitly framed together, rests upon Jesus 
Christ as the " chief corner-stone," upon whom the apostles 
were grounded first, (Eph. ii. 20.) But their followers in 
the ministry are all that are ordained to officiate in the 
Church, provided it be the Apostolic Word which they 
minister. The Lord continues the work He has begun, 
and in the way He began it, when appointing the first- 
fruits of His Church to be the first to minister in it, breath- 
ing on them with the Spirit of His mouth, in order that, 
by their word, filled with the Spirit, they might dispense 
the Church's treasures, foremost of which stands the for- 
giveness of sins to believers in Christ's name, while by the 
same word they are retained to unbelievers for judgment; 
whereunto Christ came into the world, (John xx. 21-23, 
ix. 39, xii. 47.) Therefore we have found Paul not only 
active in the ministry of the word, but have also seen hinn 
deem it part of his office to " ordain them elders in every 
church," (Acts xiv. 23,) of and to whom he says, " The 
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of 
God," (Acts XX. 28.) In his very first epistle he writes, — 
"We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour 
among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish 
you; and to esteem them very highly for their work's 
sake," (1 Thess. v. 12, 13.) And that the Apostle looks 
upon all elders (overseers, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) 
as his colleagues, we may see from his farewell address at 
Miletus, which is throughout an exhortation to the elders 
at Ephesus to follow their fellow-elder Paul. 

" Ministry " and " diaconate " mean '' service; " and so, in 



THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 191 

fact, does " liturgy." It is Paul's comfort, as well as boast, 
that he holds his ministry from the Lord Himself. A 
" liturgus " of Jesus Christ he calls himself, commissioned 
and empowered to dispense the Gospel, (Eom. xv. 16.) 
Notwithstanding, he accepts the Lord's commission (1 
Tim. i. 1) altogether in the sense of ministering love, and 
desires his of&ce to be looked upon as a service which 
Christ, the great "Arch-deacon," (Jesus Christ was a 
" minister of the circumcision," Eom. xv. 8,) renders to 
the Church through His ministering servants, (1 Tim. iv. 
6.) "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the 
Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake," (2 
Cor. iv. 5.) In love's service, he is devoted to his brethren 
for Christ's sake, in order that He alone — through the 
service done by commission under Him, and on His part — 
might be the Lord of all — a Lord who is among His ser- 
vants, " as he that serveth," (Luke xxii. 27; John xiii. 16.) 
A labourer together with God he is in God's husbandry, 
(1 Cor. iii. 9,) who beseeches by him, (2 Cor. v. 20.) 
Wherefore he says, — ''Not for that we have dominion over 
your faith, but are helpers of your joy," (2 Cor. i. 24;) for 
God lords none by imperious rule into the joy of faith, 
but courts men into it by the gentle intreaty of His word 
of grace; and they that receive it shall reign in God — 
serving in liberty, themselves lorded by none, but led by 
the Spirit of joy, nourished and increased in them by the 
" helpers of their joy," and preserved to them, under God, 
by them that "watch for their souls," (Heb. xiii. 17.) 
" Who, then, is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers 
by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every 
man?"(l Cor. iii. 5.) 

The Lord has ordained the ministry to serve in the 
Church, not to stand between Him and the Church. They 
(the ministers) do not float in the air, but are members and 



192 ST PAUL. 

integral parts of tlie Churcli. !N"o trace or thonglit of the 
office-bearers in the Chnrch holding a mediatorial position 
between God and the Church can be found in Paul's 
epistles, or any place of the New Testament. In the 
three cardinal passages (Eom. xii. ; 1 Cor. xiii., and Eph. 
iv.) where the Apostle treats of the different Church 
offices for the edifying of the body of Christ, he speaks of 
the gifts of the Lord, or the Spirit, as given to the Church, 
as an organic whole, to make use of them by persons 
whom she calls and sets apart to serve her with the re- 
ceived gifts. And these are made effectual by the Lord's 
command, and under His gra,cious operation, in the minis- 
try, or " ministration of the Spirit," (2 Cor. iii. 8 ; Gal. iii. 
5 ;) which, according to the necessities of the Church, is 
unfolded in different offices. Li so far '' the work of the 
ministry" in the Church emanates from her Head. But 
the persons divinely designated by their gifts for the 
ministry, and called unto it by the Church, are no " vicars 
of Christ," no proxies, no substitutes or representatives 
of the Head ; but among the members of Christ's body is 
their place, those members whom God hath set severally, 
according to His will, to care for and serve one another 
in love. 

For the Church is the body of Christ, in her capacity as 
the congregation of believers who, through the Holy 
Ghost, are gathered together under their Head, Christ; 
and for that reason they are united among one another in 
love, (Eph. iv. 16.) The Church is not constituted of a 
number of individuals, who form themselves into an asso- 
ciation for their spiritual benefit, and keep together so long 
as it pleases them ; but the Church is a family, the family 
of '' the household of God," (Eph. ii. 19,) aU begotten by 
His Spirit, and related by one blood of generation. " All" 
are " one in Christ Jesus," (Gal. iii. 28.) We have seen 



THE MAN OF THE CHUECH. 193 

in Paul " the man of faith/' to whom especially was com- 
municated the mystery of the incorporation of the Gentiles 
into "the same body/' (Eph. iii. 6 ;) the ''labourer together 
with God," who devoted his whole life to carrying into 
effect, throughout the world, what Christ had shed His 
precious blood for, — the oneness of Jew and Gentile, the 
making "one new man" out of twain, (Eph. ii. 15,) the 
consummation of the true Israel of God. We have seen — 
to speak with Gregory of N"azianzum — " the herald of the 
Gentiles, who is a captain of the Jews." As Christ is 
both the substance of Paul's faith and sum-total of all his 
preaching, so the " fulness of Christ " — the Church — is 
the fulness of his evangelical doctrine. There is no trace, 
in his apostolical teaching that does not bear, more or less 
directly, on the mystery of " Christ and the Church." 
Eeconciliation and redemption, justification and life, pre- 
sent liberty in the Spirit and future glory, all the articles of 
Christian faith and hope, coincide and meet together in this 
one, — the apostolic doctrine of the body whose Head is 
Christ. Then only do we rightly understand the man of love 
when we understand the love wherein he walked as one 
which finds her object and consimunation in the Church. 
" Edification " is everywhere the end of the love he exer- 
cises, and bids others to exercise, in the name of the Lord. 
To unity in the Spirit, to oneness in confession, to peace 
in life, he continually exhorts and stretches forward with 
all his might. The kingdom of God is righteousness and 
peace and joy in the Holy Ghost; but where this spiritual 
kingdom is established by faith, it manifests itself in love, 
which has regard to even such outward things as eating 
and drinking, and walks after this rule ; " Let us therefore 
follow after the things which make for peace, and things 
wherewith one may edify another," (Eom. xiv. 17-19.) Here 
is the place where we have to view Paul as deputy of 

N 



194 ST PAUL. 

the Antiochian churcli to the synod at Jerusalem, 
(Acts XV.) 

This journey of Paul to Jerusalem was one of love to 
the Church; whereunto the Lord, as has been already 
observed, strengthened him by a special revelation, (Gal. 
ii. 2 ;) and indeed he needed such strengthening. For was 
he not jeopardising his apostolical independence by taking 
the appearance upon him as if he subjected his gospel- 
preaching to the judgment of the first-called apostles? 
Would it not be construed into a tacit admission of their 
superiority to him ? (Gal. ii. 6.) Did he not furnish the 
followers of " Cephas," who deemed him and his fellow- 
Apostles of the Circumcision superior to the after-called 
Apostle of the Gentiles, with weapons, by allowing him- 
self to be ruled by their advice in any matter of Christian 
doctrine, life, and order ? Surely, had Paul held himself 
for wise, he had not gone up to Jerusalem, or had there 
taken another position than we find he did. But Paul 
was lighted on this church-journey by the word : " That 
speaking the truth in love, we may grow up into Him in 
aU things, which is the Head, even Christ," (Eph. iv. 15.) 
An Antiochian church had just witnessed the accession of 
four Gentile churches gathered by Paul and Barnabas, 
and had rejoiced with them that the Lord had " opened 
the door of faith unto the Gentiles," (Acts xiv. 27.) But 
in the Mother-Church at Jerusalem and in Judaea this joy 
over Paul's blessed draught was of a mixed character. 
The Apostles themselves, and those like-minded with them, 
would indeed be glad to find Peter's signally gracious 
entrance into Cornelius' house so richly confirmed by 
these " wonderful works of God." But not all were like- 
minded with Peter, and John, and James, the Lord's 
brother. Some Judaising Christians would hold their 
leaven of legal Pharisaic pride concealed under the 



THE MAN OF THE CHUECH. 195 

cloak of Jewish patriotism and an attachment to Israel's 
honoured rights and " customs," (Acts xxi. 21 ;) and there- 
fore wished to see circumcision and the observance of the 
law required of the Gentile Christians as necessary to 
salvation besides their faith in Jesus Christ. The Church's 
treasure, the truth of the Gospel, the only apostolic answer 
to the question : " Is Jesus Christ enough for justification 
and the forgiveness of sins to every man that believeth in 
Him ? " was here at stake. Thanks be to God ! the holy 
synod, " apostles and elders," which " came together for to 
consider this matter," were unanimous in the confession, 
to which the Holy Ghost gave utterance by Peter's mouth : 
" We believe, that through the grace of the Lord Jesus 
Christ we shall be saved, even as they " (of the Gentiles.) 
Now Paul and Barnabas could relate to the '' silent " 
multitude that God, through them, had indeed wrought 
among the Gentiles what Peter had said — viz., that He 
had " purified their hearts by faith ; " and James elucidated 
and confirmed by the prophetic word the acceptance of 
the Gentiles as the work of God. The three pillars, Peter, 
James, and John, found Paul's gospel-edifice among the 
heathen needful of no propping up by additional doctrines, 
and gave Paul and Barnabas — over the one and only 
Gospel — " the right hands of fellowship," (Gal. ii. 6-9.) 
They were unanimous in disowning and rejecting as 
slanderous the sinister reports whereby false brethren 
from Judaea had disturbed the church at Antioch; and 
thus these peace-disturbers were happily foiled and beaten. 
The holy synod, however, being gathered in the spirit of 
truth and love, did more than merely acknowledge the 
Christian liberty of the Gentile churches. They also 
deemed it their duty to furnish them with helps for the 
maintenance of a laudable Christian order of life. The 
ordinances of the Jewish law, still observed by the Chris- 



196 ST PAUL. 

tians gatliered from among the Jews, were not fitting 
barriers of church order for the Gentile churches, inas- 
much as they had not first to become Jews in order to 
become Christians as fully as those. The synod, there- 
fore, upon the advice of James, supplied them with certain 
rules for the fixing of a wise discipline and fair Christian 
order in the spirit of love, and resolved to write to them 
''that they should abstain from pollutions of idols," 
(especially from " things offered unto idols," 1 Cor. viii.,) 
"and^ from fornication," (all and every lawlessness in the 
sexual relations of life, 1 Cor. vi. 18 ; Gal. v. 19 ; Eph. v- 
3 ; Col. iii. 5 ; 1 Thess. iv. 3,) "and from things strangled, 
and from blood," (Gen. ix. 4; Deut. xii. 23.) By this the 
communal life of the young Gentile churches was hedged 
in with a barrier of laudable caution against all impure 
and obscene heathen practices ; while, by the last precept, 
a tender regard also was shewn to their Jewish brethren. 
" It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us," it says in 
the body of the synodal letter, "to lay upon you no 
greater burden than these necessary things." What ! Did 
not Paul protest against such a resolution ? Did he lend 
himself to imposing upon churches of his gathering and 
building up synodal precepts as enacted by the Holy 
Ghost ; and that, too, such as had regard to mere externals — 
to "meat" and drink?" And was he going to "subject" 
them again to such ''ordinances?" (Col. ii. 20-22.) Yet 
Luke has not omitted expressly to mention that Paul, upon 
his next visitation-journey through the churches of Asia 
Minor, delivered them the "decrees" for "to keep" that 
were ordained of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem; 
yea, and he adds, what now-a-days may sound strange and 
even vexatious to some people, " and so were the churches 
established in the faith, and increased in number daily," 
(Acts xvi. 4, 5.) Thus, then, Paul must have deemed the 



THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 197 

holy synod to have written ariglit : ^' It seemed good to tlie 
Holy Ghost, and to ns ; " and he held thus of it because 
he found in the synod's decree only an explanatory copy 
of one and the same law of love, which Christ puts in the 
hearts of His believing people, and which the Holy Ghost 
establishes and keeps up in the Church. 

Exactly so, as here at the synod in Jerusalem, w^e find 
Paul minded everywhere. With all diligence, as a good 
ruler, (Eom. xii. 18,) he upheld the maintenance of unity 
in the Church : " Endeavour to keep the unity of the 
Spirit in the bond of peace," (Eph. iv. 3.) In this passage 
the two things are paired together, which in the synodal 
decree also go hand in hand : unity in the spirit of faith, 
preserved by the Spirit of love in the bond of peace. 
"There is one body and one Spirit," he continues, (Eph. v. 
4-6), " even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; 
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of 
all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." He 
wants Christians to feel themselves as one integral and 
indivisible body, even as the Spirit is one and indivisible, 
who, through the Gospel, calls and gathers all in one hope 
of the same calling. One Lord is the Lord of them all, 
and therefore the faith of them all can be but one ; and 
one baptism admits and makes them all LEis own. One 
God and Father it is whom all His children in Christ call 
" Abba, Father ! " by the spirit of adoption. He is God 
over them all as their Creator, through tliem all as their 
Preserver, in them aU as their Guide and Director. As 
Paul thankfully appeals to the " true " God that his and 
his fellow-labourers' preaching of the one Lord Jesus Christ 
has not been ''yea and nay," (2 Cor. i. 18) — otherwise the 
Church of the living God were not the " pillar and ground 
of the truth," (1 Tim. iii. 15,) but a spurious counter or 
a weathercock — so we find him exhorting his congregations 



198 ST PAUL. 

everywhere to be of one mind in Christ, (Rom. xv. 5, 6 ; 
Phil. ii. 2.) He saw their concord in sound doctrine 
already endangered, if they did not hold fast " the form of 
sound words" delivered by the apostles, (2 Tim. 1, 13.) 
'' Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that 
there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly 
joined together in the same mind and in the same judg- 
ment,-" (1 Cor. i. 10.) But oneness in faith and unity in 
doctrine have to be supported by their own offspring, 
concord and love. With parental fondness the Apostle 
paints before the Corinthians the many-membered body of 
the Church, so manifoldly-gifted by the self-same Spirit, 
(1 Cor. xii.), " For as the body is one, and hath many 
members, and all the members of that one body, being 
many, are one body; so also is Christ. Eor by one Spirit 
are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or 
Gentiles, whether we be bond or free ; and have been all 
made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one 
member, but many. If the foot shall say. Because I am not 
the hand, I am not of the body ; is it therefore not of the 
body ? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the 
eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body ? 
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing ? 
If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling ? 
But now hath God set the members every one of them in 
the body, as it hath pleased Him." The congregation at 
Corinth, and each individual congregation, is to consider 
itself as such a body, the manifold members of which need 
one another, and therefpre must care for one another. 
Yet it is not Paul's meaning that, for instance, the congre- 
gation at Corinth or that at Eome do each form one body 
without any organic connexion between them. Bidding 
grace and peace unto the church of God which is at 



THE MAN OF THE CHUECH. 199 

Corintli, lie adds : "To tliem that are sanctified in Christ 
Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call 
upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and 
ours/' (1 Cor. i. 2;) thus deeming every place his own 
that holds any of them. Likewise he writes to the Eo- 
mans : ''As we have many members in one body, and all 
members have not the same office : so we, being many, are 
one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 
Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is 
given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according 
to the proportion of faith ; or ministry, let us wait on our 
ministering ; or he that teacheth, on teaching," (Eom. xii. 
4-7.) Yea, so studiously did the man who had upon him 
" the care of all the churches " (2 Cor. xi. 28) foster the 
spirit of true catholicity, that, in the Corinthians' " minis- 
tration " to the saints at Jerusalem he recognises a distri- 
bution " unto all'' (2 Cor. ix. 13.) Verily Paul was no 
fanatic, nor a '' Congregationalist," or " Independent." In 
his ''we, being many, are one body in Christ," he includes 
all who belong and hold themselves to the " little flock " 
gathered around the Gospel, and ranged under the banners 
of Christ's Cross, whether at Eome, or Corinth, from Jeru- 
salem even unto the ends of the earth. Well indeed he 
knows that only true believers are " one body in Christ," 
of whom He is the Head ; yet he knows nothing of a body 
or church so spiritual and invisible that he might be un- 
able to find or reach them with his apostolic exliortation. 
Are there among those, of whom he says "we, being many, 
are one body in Christ," some or many who do not believe 
in their heart what they confess with their mouth, and do 
not therefore cleave to the invisible Head, while, like 
Judas, they move among the visible members of the body ? 
Well, in them the spiritual and invisible Church is not 
represented ; though they are in the Church or body, they 



200 ST PAUL. 

are not of the Chnrcli or body of Christ ; they are the rub- 
bish among the vessels of Christ — dead members among 
the living — withered branches among the green. Nor does 
the existence of such '' vessels unto dishonour " subvert the 
"pillar and ground of the truth;" for the foundation of 
God standeth sure, having this seal : " The Lord knoweth 
them that are His/' yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, 
(l!^um. xvi. 5 ;) and His own are to remain steadfast in the 
doing of the word : "Let every one that nameth the name 
of Christ depart from iniquity/' (2 Tim. ii. 19-21.) For 
where persons who call themselves Christians make them- 
selves known by their works as un- Christians and Anti- 
christians, neither will be checked by brotherly discipline, 
there Paul commands : " Put away from among you that 
wicked person," (1 Cor. v. 13.) But the melancholy fact, 
of which he was fully aware, that in this life " there are (and 
always will be) many false Christians and hypocrites, yea, 
and open sinners too, among the true believers," did not by 
any means determine him to fix the Christian Church, 
which "properly is nothing but the congregation of all 
believers and saints," into the open air of a mere idea, 
stripping her of her organic palpability, as subsisting in 
the preached and confessed Christ, and to dream of an 
invisible Church beside and out of the visible. " I say 
to every man that is among you," he writes to the 
Eoman Church, (Eom. xii. 3; c£ 1 Cor. xii. 27: "Now ye 
are the body of Christ, and members in particular;") 
and with that at Eome he comprehends into one aU. 
churches of Christ in aU places ; for " so we," he says, 
" being many, are one body in Christ." A glance into the 
church-building and church-ruling activity of the Apostle 
shews plainly enough that he meant the picture he has 
drawn in 1 Cor. xii. of the body with many members, as 
vaUd for the collection of all individual congregations. 



THE MAN OF THE CHUKCH. 201 

From the very first (cf., for instance, Acts xvi. 3) we find 
him employed to connect in the bond of peace the different 
new congregations springing up here and there, and by 
living joints to strengthen the tender bands of the several 
individual congregations into one whole. The identical 
name of "church," which not only each congregation, 
but even a small fraction of one, (Eom. xvi. 5 ; 1 Cor. 
xvi. 9,) bears together with the collective whole — ecclesia 
— already clearly points to this, that, according to apostolic 
doctrine and practice, the Christians scattered sectionally 
through the world constitute one organic whole, the 
parts of which grow together, and stand in service- 
rendering relation to one another. The heavenly organ- 
ism of the Church consists in the union of many in 
one Spirit and faith, wrought by the means of grace ; but 
this inward union manifests itself in outward signs, and is 
nourished and preserved by visible means. Paul desires 
the saints' "perfection," complete restoration — Katartisis, 
(2 Cor. xiii. 9;) and this he sees grow out of their close 
union (1 Cor. i. 10) and organic edification, (Eph. iv. 12, 13,) 
as one community or congregation of the Lord. Unto the 
giving and receiving of "spiritual" and "carnal" things 
(Eom. XV. 27) the several Christians and Christian congre- 
gations are joined together in love; for God is love, and 
His Church is the visible embodiment of love, (cf. 1 John 
iv. 12.) It is God's will that the several members of the 
body shall need one another, care for one another, and 
aUow themselves to be cared for one by the other ; therefore 
He has manifoldly distributed the manifold gifts of the one 
Spirit among the several members of the undivided, and 
every division-resisting, body, and points them mutually 
to each other's edification. Be it prophecy or ministry, 
teaching or exhortation ; be it ruling and guiding, or the 
dispensing of bodily benefits, such as care for the sick and 



202 ST PAUL. 

poor, with all other exercises of mercy, (Eom. xii.6-8) — every 
gift of grace is given to each for the whole ; and Paul, the 
" ruler," best shews how that gift (Kybernesis, art of steer- 
ing, 1 Cor. xii. 28) has to be made effective in serving the 
whole body to edification, by discerning and awakening, 
commissioning and installing, watching over and applying, 
the manifold gifts to the general good of the Church, ac- 
cording to circumstances of place and time. The common 
gift of all Christians, Prayer — as if proceeding from the one 
heart in the body — Paul stirs continually into hearty mo- 
tion and vigorous exercise by his constant exhortations to 
Intercession. As, to his great comfort, he knows himself 
borne up by the prayers of the Church, (2 Cor. i. 11 ; Phil, 
i. 19 ; Philemon 22,) and urgently commends himseK to 
them, (Eom. xv. 30 ; Eph. vi. 19 ; Col. iv. 3 ; 1 Thess. v. 
15;) so he seeks to increase the union of all saints, here and 
there, by exhorting them to intercessions and thanksgiving 
for each other, (Eph. vi. 18,) and for all men, (1 Tim. ii. 1.) 
The singing of God's praise by all brethren, with one mind 
and one mouth, (Eom. xv. 6,) was to him the holy bloom of 
church-life, pregnant with much fruit, of which it has the 
promise. The uniform Latin tongue kept up in the Eomish 
Church, although lapsed into the service of perversion, is 
one of Claudius' " beacons at sea, to indicate that a richly- 
laden vessel has suffered shipwreck there." In all respects 
the "man of the Church" proved himself a faithful guardian 
and diligent fosterer of the precious organic union and 
communion whereto all Christians scattered over the whole 
earth are called. An instance of his fond solicitude in 
this direction we have seen in the collection he gathered 
with such painstaking diligence, cementing thereby in one 
bond of peaceful union the saints in Judaea and those of his 
several Gentile congregations. 

Our attention has already been drawn to that memorable 



THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 203 

passage in 1 Cor. xiv., (cf. p. 160,) where, of his directions for 
decent order in the church service, the Apostle says : " The 
things that I write unto you are the commandments of the 
Lord," (1 Cor. xiv. 37.) By this we are not to understand 
as though the several precepts he there gives were com- 
municated to him by special revelation, (cf. 1 Cor. vii. 
12-25,) but rather as he himself explains his meaning to 
this effect : " For God is not the author of confusion, but 
of peace." As '' all churches of the saints," so the one at 
Corinth has to shew itself as a congregation of the God of 
peace and order. " Let all things be done decently and in 
order." In drawing into the sphere of his apostolical manage- 
ment and control all such things as the manner of Divine 
service and church discipline, (yea, and even customs, to 
the very wearing of woman's hair,) matrimonial order, and 
the administration of the poor-box — in short, all that is 
comprehended under the term of ''church order" — "So 
ordain I in all churches," (1 Cor. vii. 17;) " the rest will I 
set in order when I come," (1 Cor. xi. 34) — and claiming 
for these regulations the church's obedience, as one due to 
the Lord, the Apostle is far from putting a yoke upon the 
neck of the disciples, and of bringing the happily freed 
Christian souls again from evangelical liberty under legal 
restraints. He is plain, indeed, where church order and dis- 
cipline is concerned, (1 Cor. v. 11,) and can boldly write 
" I will therefore," both as regards matters of Christian duty 
as well as Christian decency, (1 Tim. ii. 8, &c. ;) yea, and 
" command " he can, " in the name of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother 
that walketh disorderly, and not after the traditions which 
he received of us," (2 Thess. iii. 6 ;) and, *' but if any man," 
he can peremptorily say, " seem to be contentious, we have 
no such custom, neither the churches of God," (1 Cor. xi. 
1 6.) Yet what are aU the orders according to which he 



204 ST PAUL. 

desires tlie Christian Cliiircli to walk, but copies and pre- 
cepts of edifying love, resulting from faith? They are en- 
forced by no " staff of the driver," except it be that of Him 
who '"driveth"* God's children; and their love is not 
ignorant of it, (cf. 1 Cor. xiv. 38,) but understands the 
Spirit's voice. And because church precepts do but regulate 
works of love, they are not immutable; for love alters her 
works according to time and circumstances, place and per- 
sons — " adapt yourselves to the time.""I* But Paul's sense 
is caught as little as Luther' s,| if their names are made use 
of for justifying an evangelical liberty which wants to be 
free from, and independent of, that general order whereby 
the one body is served and edified by all its constituent 
parts. The " Congregational system," for instance, loses 
sight of this important point in not viewing the Church as 
one organic whole. That only can change which exists. As 
the living human body constantly changes in its growth, 
yet always remains the same human body, and never be- 
comes a spectre ; exactly so does the changeableness of 
church order not consist in this, that possibly there might 
be no order at all, but in its changing according to its own 

* Luther's forcible rendering of ayco in Rom. viii. 1 L 
f Luther's translation of two different passages — Rom. xii. 11, and Eph. 
V. 16. In the former he must have followed quite another reading (than 
tS Kvp'ico 8ov\evovT€s,) and in the latter have been swayed by the context; 
for the English, here also, is decidedly the correcter rendering (of 
€^ayopa^op,ai.] — Tp. 

X Luther, for instance, in speaking of the Saxon-church-visitation-order, 
says : " From which common order to deviate creates no good thoughts, 
and eventually even disruption and devastation of the Church. We should 
thank God that our churches are brought a little into uniform order ; and 
God will not bless them who, without any need, only for their own ambi- 
tion and pride, break in upon such order and unity. But may God be 
our help and strength in the maintenance of a true faith and unfeigned 
love ! Amen." Such like things, therefore, are really " old," and not " new 
Lutheran." 



THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 205 

inherer t law : " Let all your things be done with charity," 
(1 Cor. xvi. 14;) and again, '' Edify one another," (1 Thess. 
V. 11.) 

In conclusion, we shall take a view of the three (so- 
called) •■' pastoral letters." They faithfully reflect the pic- 
ture of Paul, as a clever pilot steering the vessel of Christ. 
Pastoral letters we call the two Epistles to Timothy and the 
one to Titus, because they are written to pastors, and mainly 
treat of how they ought to be, and how they ought to execute 
their office. They might, however, as properly be called 
letters on church government ; for the church "ruler" writes 
them to his two assistants, (" apostolical vicars " they have 
been not unaptly called,) that they might knoAv how to 
" set in order " the things wanting, as he had appointed 
them, (Tit. i. 5.) A " superintendental instruction " they 
contain, (for '' superintendents " of Ephesus and Crete 
respectively Timothy and Titus have also been styled, by 
our fathers,) inasmuch as the pastoral and other instruc- 
tions therein given are meant to serve them as a norm for 
the management of church affairs, which, for instance, is 
pointedly expressed in injunctions like these : '' Let no 
widow be taken into the number under threescore years," 
(1 Tim. V. 9), and " let the elders that rule weU be counted 
worthy of double honour; (ib. ver. 17.) ISTow, how were 
Timothy and Titus to " behave themselves in the house of 
God?" (1 Tim. iii. 15.) First, and chief, stands the care 
in keeping incorrupt the only true doctrine, and watching 
over it that it be so kept. Paul's First Epistle to Timothy 
at once begins by mentioning why he had left his " own 
son in the faith" at Ephesus — viz., that he might '' charge 
some that they teach no other doctrine." Strange doctrine, 
or rather strange teaching, (lieterodidaskaly,) he is not to 
suffer. The spirit of error and heresy did not yet venture, 
it would appear, to come out boldly with a denial of the 



206 ST PAUL. 

apostolic doctrine; but some, satiated with the plain Chris- 
tian food, ''gave heed to fables and endless genealogies," 
and were " doting about questions and strifes of words." 
Against these Paul binds upon Timothy's conscience the 
two cardinal articles for Christian edification — faith and 
love, — and calls to his mind " the glorious Gospel of the 
blessed God," which was committed to his trust. "This 
charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy," he most solemnly 
writes him, and exhorts the watchman over the house of 
God to " war a good warfare." Prominent among all his 
injunctions regarding the Christian life in the Church 
stands always the heeding of a sound faith and teaching, as 
the chief charge of his offi.ce, (1 Tim. vi. 12-14 ;) and at the 
close of this epistle he once more calls out to him : "0 
Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, 
avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of 
science falsely so called, which some professing have erred 
concerning the faith." His main charge upon Titus, like- 
wise, is to ordain such elders and bishops '' in every city " 
as, like "faithful stewards of God," shall uphold the word 
of " sound doctrine," and contrariwise to " stop the mouth" 
of those who "for filthy lucre's sake teach things which 
they ought not," tickling the Cretans' lie-accustomed ears 
with '' Jewish fables and commandments of men." As a 
" pattern of good works " he ought always to shew himself, 
but withal to watch over " imcorruptness in doctrine," 
(Tit. ii. 7 ;) the sweetest kernel of which is contained in 
the two Christmas epistles (Tit. ii. 11-14, and iii. 4-7) ; to 
which severally the Apostle adds: "These things speak 
and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man 
despise thee ; " " This is a faithful saying, and these things 
I will that thou affirm constantly." The Second Epistle to 
Timothy contains Paul's last wiU and testament to his 
" dearly beloved son." Once more " Paul the aged " lays 



THE MAN OF THE CHURCH. 207 

his blessing hand upon him, encouraging his sorrowful 
disciple (2 Tim. i. 4) to " stir up the gift of God, which'' (lie 
says) '' is in thee by the putting on of my hands," (ib. ver. 6 ;) 
and here also his main exhortation is still, " Hold fast the 
form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith 
and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which 
was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which 
dwelleth in us," (ib. ver. 13, 14.) The more boldly and 
shamelessly the Antichristian spirits are throwing off their 
mask, bent on committing havoc in the ''house of God," 
the more bravely and courageously Timothy is to put on 
his strength in Christ, fully confiding in the Lord, who will 
give him understanding rightly (without addition or omis- 
sion) to divide the word of truth, and to "purge himself" 
from aU seducers, who are growing worse and worse. " But 
watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of 
an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry," (2 Tim. iv. 
5.) Grounded upon this passage in particular, some have 
latterly thought the ofi&ce of an " evangelist " to be virtu- 
ally the same with the "episcopate;" so that Timothy, 
even in his character as evangelist, had been "bishop " of 
Ephesus, in the sense of ecclesiastical rule, which it can be 
proved has been attached to that official title since the 
second century.* Though this assumption goes too great 
a length, ("evangelists" are all preachers of the Gospel 
among the heathen ; for instance " Philip the evangelist," 
Acts xxi. 8,) yet so much is quite plain, that Timothy the 
" evangelist" was to fulfil {i.e., fully execute) his office, not 
alone by preaching the Gospel, teaching and exhorting, (to 
which, however, he certainly was to give continual attend- 
ance, 1 Tim. iv. 13 ; 2 Tim. iv. 2 ; ) but also thereby, that 
— as the apostle's legate — he exercised the same ruling 

♦ Thus Lechler: Die neutestamentliche Lehre Tom heiligen Amte. — 
P. 220, &c. 



208 ST PAUL. 

and administrative functions which we see Paul himself 
do :— To him, as well as Titus, was committed the care to 
see that in their respective dioceses the preachiiig of the 
Gospel be carried on by truly evangelical men, and that 
their congregations be edified in a manner becoming the 
Gospel of Christ. To this end they had to look out for and 
choose well-qualified persons, to instruct, to examine, and 
to ordain them for their several of&ces, by the laying on of 
hands (1 Tim. iii. 1, &c., v. 9, &c., ver. 22 ; 2 Tim. ii. 2 ; Tit. 
i. 5, &c.) Over the deacons and elders, (bishops,) both 
them that preached and those doing other evangelical ser- 
vice in the Church, they had the superintendence, to uphold 
the respect of their office, and provide for their main- 
tenance, (1 Tim. V. 17-18;) but also to watch over their 
doctrine and conversation, to receive accusations against 
them, yet guardedly and upon sufficient proof by witnesses, 
and to administer reproof or other condign correction, 
(jurisdiction;) but withal having the utmost care to " do 
nothing by partiality," (1 Tim. v. 19-21,) and after the 
rule : " Eebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father; 
and the younger men as brethren; the elder women as 
mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity," (1 Tim. v. 
1, 2.) Finally, the entire church order was put under their 
supervision, both that of the manner of Divine service 
(1 Tim. ii.) and the discipline of the congregations in doc- 
trine and life, (1 Tim. vi. 1, &c.; Tit. ii. 1, &c., iii. 1, &c.) 
To sum up all — the Apostle has drawn in these epistles 
the functions of a careful " ruler," such as Luther speaks 
of, on the words " he that ruleth, with diligence," (Eom. 
xii. 8 :) " They are those who are to watch over all offices 
in the Church ; that the teachers wait on teaching, and be 
not slothful, likewise the ministers on ministering, and be 
not dilatory, but do rightly dispense the treasure ; punish 
and excommunicate sinners, and have diligent care to see 



THE MAN OF THE CHUKCH. 209 

all functions faithfully exercised. Such are the bishops' 
functions ; wherefore also they are called bishops or over- 
seers, and ' antistites/ as St Paul calls them here — i.e., pre- 
lates and rulers." 

Verba docent, exempla trahunt, words teach, examples 
draw. If the Apostle has not taught ns in express words 
that the Church ought at all times, in care for her organic 
edification, to call to the office of ruling overseers or ad- 
ministrators such men as the Holy Ghost has furnished 
with that gift, such at least must be our conviction, by 
the example he has drawn for us in Timothy and Titus. 

But, above all, let us hold firm to St Paul's divine word 
and doctrine, that it may rule us as with the sceptre of the 
Lord! Tertullian beheld in Paul "little Benjamin," who 
rules where God is blest for* "the fountain of Israel," 
(Ps. Ixviii. 26, 27.) Of such rule there will be no end " so 
long as the gathering around this fountain lasts." We 
have ventured to extol the merits of this prince among 
God's saints, not as if he needed " letters of commendation," 
who in all believers' hearts has a living letter of honour 
''known and read of all men," (2 Cor. iii. 1-3;) but be- 
cause we are mindful of his exhortation : " Eemember them 
which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you 
the word of God ; whose faith follow, considering the end 
of their conversation," (Heb. xiii. 7.) May this " portrait" 
of Paul, and his example, draw us to the obedience of the 
faith he once taught, is still teaching, and will teach to the 
end ! Now and ever may the imperishable blessing rest 
on the Church, whereof Chrysostom spoke fourteen cen- 
turies back : " By his epistles Paul ever lives in every 
man's mouth throughout the world. Through them have 
been blessed not only the heathen congregations that were 

* Luther's translation of the Hebrew (Septuagint : ck nrjycov) in Ps. Ixviii. 
26; instead of the English correct rendering : "from the foundation." — Tr. 





210 ST PAUL. 

gathered by him, but all believers down to this day ; yea 
and will be blessed all saints still to be born till the com- 
ing of the Lord." Amen. 

Christ, champion of Thy Church, that war-worn host 
Who bear Thy cross, haste, help, or we are lost ! 
The schemes of those who long our blood have sought 
Bring Thou to nought. 

Do Thou Thyself for us Thy children fight, 
Withstand the devil, quell his rage and might ; 
Whate'er assails Thy members left below 
Do Thou o'erthrow. 

Eaise men like Paul, both in our Church and School ! 
Fill all with grace whom Thou dost raise to rule ! 
Faith, hope, and love, Christ, to every heart 
Do Thou impart ! 

So shall Thy goodness here be still adored, 
Thou guardian of Thy " little flock," dear Lord, 
And heaven and earth through all eternity 
Shall worship Thee. 



THE END. 



BALLANTYNE AND COMPAKY, PBIKTERfl, EDINBURGH. 



A SELECTION FROM 

THE CATALOGUE 

OF 

JAMES NISBET AND CO. 



THE LISTENER. By Caroline Fry. A New Edition, 

with Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth antique. 

A MORNINa BESIDE THE LAKE OF GALILEE, 

AND THE MOUNT OP OLIVES. By the Rev. James Hamilton, 
D.D. 16mo, 2s. 6d. cloth antique; also separately, 16mo, Is. 6d. cloth 
antique. 

LECTURES ON SOME OF THE OFFICES AND 

THE FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Preached during Lent 1862-63 
at Portman Chapel. By Rev. J. W. Reeve, M.A., Minister of the Chapel. 
Crowij 8vo, 53. cloth. 

PSALTERIUM MESSIANICUM DAVIDIS REGIS 

ET PROPHETS. A Revision of the Authorised English Versions of the 
Book of Psalms, with Notes, Original and Selected. By the Rev. John 
Noble Coleman, M.A., late Incumbent of Ventnor. Imp. 8vo, 12s. cloth. 

A PRACTICAL COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL 

OF ST MARK. In simple and familiar language. By G. B., Author of 
" A Practical Commentary on the Gospel of St Matthew," &c. Crown 
Svo, 3s. cloth. 

A BRIEF REVIEW OF TEN YEARS' MISSIONARY 

LABOUR IN INDIA. Between 1852 and 1861. Prepared from Local 
Reports and Original Letters. By Joseph Mullens, D.D., Missionary of 
the London Missionary Society in Calcutta, Author of " Brief Memoir of 
the Rev. A. F. Lacroix," &c. Post Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

CHINESE SCENES AND PEOPLE. With Notices of 

Christian Missions and Missionary Life, in a Series of Letters from various 
parts of China. By Jane R. Edkins. With a Narrative of a Visit to Nan- 
kin, by her Husband, the Rev. Joseph Edkins, B.A., of the Loudon Mis- 
sionary Society, Pekin. Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

THE PRECIOUS THINGS OF GOD. By Octavius 

Winslow, D.D. Foolscap Svo, 5s. cloth. 
" It will doubtless be to many, what its pious author intended it to be, a 
book cheering solitude, soothing grief, and dispelling doubt, depression, and 
gloom."— Ntws of the Churches. 



A SELECTION FROM THE CATALOGUE OF 



MEMOIR OF THE KEY. J. SHERMAK Including 

an unfinished Autobiography. By the Rev. Henry Allon, Islington. 
Post 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 
"Mr Allon has produced a very able and edifying biography of his friend. 
It is gracefuUy, elegantly, and earnestly written." — Record. 

SERMONS BY THE LATE REY. JAMES HARING- 

TON EVANS. Edited by His Widow. Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
"These discourses are thoroughly evangelical in their doctrine, earnest and 
spiritual in their tone, and practical in their tendency." — Freeman. 

MADAGASCAR : Its Social and Religious Progress. By 

Mrs Ellis. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
"The work will be read with delight by multitudes." — British Standard. 

FIFTY -TWO SHORT SERMONS FOR FAMILY 

READING. By Horatius Bonar, D.D. Crown Svo, 6s. cloth. 
"These are short plain sermons for family reading, and are admirably 
fitted for so good a purpose." — English Presbyterian Messenger. 

THE THREE MARYS — MARY OF MAGDALA, 

MARY OF BETHANY, MARY OF NAZARETH. By the Rev. A. 
Moody Stuart, Minister of Free St Luke's, Edinburgh. Crown Svo, 5s. 
cloth. 
"Replete with many reflections that may be pondered with profit." — 
Church of England Magazine. 

SUBMISSION, AND ITS REWARD : A Memoir of 

Alice Johnston, including an Account of the Annan Revival. By the 
Rev. James Gailey, Annan. With a Prefatory Note by Professor Martin, 
of Aberdeen. Crovm Svo, 5s. cloth. 
"This book is a very solid contribution to our biographical literature, and 

possesses features so entirely its own as to secure for it a wide and lasting 

interest." — Evangelical Witness. 

THE DESERT PATHWAY. By the Rev. William 

Robertson, Hamilton. Crown Svo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 
" A most profitable use is here made of the wilderness journey of God's 
chosen people, the Israelites. The several chapters are written in an engag- 
ing and pleasing style, and convey most valuable lessons." — Witness. 

THE DIYINE HUMAN IN THE SCRIPTURES. 

By Professor Tayler Lewis. Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
"This is no commonplace book ; it is evidently the production of a man of 
a high order of intellect, well schooled in theological literature and Biblical 
truth, and deeply imbued with reverence for the Holy Ylovd."—Homilist. 

THE STANDARD OF THE CROSS AMONG THE 

FLAGS OF THE NATIONS: A Narrative of Christian Effort in the 

Great Exhibition. By V. M. S. With a Preface by the Author of "Haste 

to the Rescue." Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

"As a memorial of the Great Exhibition of 1S62, were it on no higher 

grounds, the book is worth a place on the shelves of a full library. The 

letters are full of interest, and many of the facts are curious and striking." — 

British and Foreign Evangelical Reuitw. 



JAMES NISBET AND CO. 



SMALL SINS. By the Kev. Alexander Balloch 

Grosakt, Kinross. Royal 32mo, Second Edition, Is. 6d. cloth. 
*' We are glad to see tlie second edition of this thoughtful sermon, in which 
there is both genius and judgment, good writing, good learning, and good 
gospel. Mr Grosart is by nature quaint and rich. We cordially commend 
this little book for its aesthetic, as well as its deeper, and, in the best sense, 
evangelical worth." — Scotsman. 

FREEDOM AND SLAVERY IN THE UNITED 

states of AMERICA. By the Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel. Crown 
8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
"We cordially recommend the volume to all who are interested in the 
great questions at issue in the Transatlantic struggle." — Weekly Review. 

FREEDOM AND HAPPINESS IN THE TRUTH 

AND WAYS OF CHRIST. Sermons by the Rev. James Stratten, more 
than Forty Years Minister of Paddington Chapel. Post 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 
" For their own intrinsic excellence, as well as for their monumental value, 
these sermons will be prized by multitudes."— Patriot. 

OLD FRIENDS AND WHAT BECAME OF THEM. 

By the Rev. J. B. Owen, M.A., Incumbent of St Jude's, Chelsea. Crown 
8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
" Keen observation, and singular felicity of illustration, render these 
sketches quite inimitable." — Patnot. 

THE RISEN REDEEMER. The Gospel History, from 

the Resurrection to the Day of Pentecost. By F. W. Krummacher, D.D. 
Translated by J. T. Betts. Post Svo, 5s. cloth. 
"The new work by the warm-hearted, imaginative, and earnest divine, 
appears trustworthy of his well-earned re-p\it-d,tion."— Evangelical Magazine. 

THE SYMPATHY OF CHRIST WITH MAN: Its 

Teaching and its Consolation. By the Rev. Octavius Winslow, D.D. 

Fcap. Svo, 5s. cloth. 
"Probably no work has proceeded from the pen of Dr Winslow more 
adapted to impart instruction, i.r more fitted to minister consolation amidst 
the sorrows of life." — Morning Advertiser. 

THE CHRISTIAN GOVERNESS : A Memoir and a 

Selection from the Correspondence of Miss Sarah Bennet, late of Melton 
Mowbray. By Geokge B. Bennet, B.A., Curate of Fleet, Lincolnshire. 
With an Introduction by the Rev. R. H. Cobbold, M.A., Rector ot 
Brosely, Salop. Crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 
" We are pleased with this book, which may well be placdd in the hands 
of young ladies." — Church of England Magazine. 

NINE MONTHS IN THE UNITED STATES DUR- 
ING THE CRISIS. By the Rev. George Fisch, Paris. With a Preface 
by the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, M.P., and an Introduction by the Rev. 
William Arthur. Crown Svo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
"We commend the book, as containing a large amount of interesting 

matter, and enforcing views which are of a sound and salutary character." 

— Morning Advertiser. 



A SELECTION FROM THE CATALOGUE OF 



THE CANON OF THE HOLY SCEIPTURES ; from 

the Double Point of View of Science and of Faith. By the Eev. L. Gaus- 
SEN, of Geneva. 8vo, 10s. 6d. cloth. 

" We set a very high value on this noble work. The learning which the 
book evinces is ample, varied, and many-sided." — British and Foreign Evan- 
gelical Review. 

LOST, BUT NOT FOR EVER My Personal Narra- 

tive of Starvation and Providence iu the Australian Mountain Regions. 
By R. W. Vanderkiste, late London City Missionary. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. 
cloth, 
"The book is full of interesting facts ; and here and there we light upon 
some vivid pictures." — London Revitw. 

EVERY-DAY RELIGION; or, Christian Principle in 

Daily Practice. By the Rev. William Landels, Author of "True Man- 
hood." Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 
" It demonstrates how widely and wonderfully Christianity touches every 

sphere, every passion, every motive, and every interest of human life. It is 

earnest, and sometimes rises to eloquence." — Patriot. 

TRUE YOKE-FELLOWS IN THE MISSION FIELD. 

The Life and Labours of the Rev. John Anderson and the Rev. Robert 
Johnston, traced in the Rise and Development of the Madi'as Free Church 
Mission. By the Rev. John Braidwood, M.A. Post 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 
"We earnestly recommend the volume of Mr Braidwood." — Witness. 

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOHN ANGELL 

JAMES, including an Unfinished Autobiography. Edited by R. W. Dale, 
M. A., his Colleague and Successor. Demy 8vo, 12s. cloth ; also a Cheaper 
Edition, post 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 
" Mr Dale has given us a very beautiful biography." — Patriot. 

GOD'S WAY OF PEACE. By Horatius Bonar, D.D. 

Four Editions of this valuable work can now be had, viz., a Cheap 
Edition, 6d. sewed, and 9d. cloth limp. In 18mo, a Kew Edition, in cloth 
antique. Is. 6d. Also a Large Type Edition, crown 8vo, 2s. cloth. 

"The best book for the anxious ever written." — Rev. Samuel Garbatt in 
Revival Truths. 

DISCUSSIONS ON THE GOSPELS. By the Rev. 

Alexander Roberts, M.A., St John's Wood, Loudon. 8vo, 16s. cloth. 

" A most valuable contribution to our Bil:)lical literature. ... Mr Roberts 
has satisfied the requirements of the most exacting critical scholarship. . . . 
Throughout the whole of his book he has handled his problems in the most 
excellent spirit." — Max Muller in The Saturday Review. 

THE PHYSICIANS DAUGHTERS ; or, The Spring- 
time of Women. Dedicated to the Gentlewomen of England. Post 8vo, 
7s. 6d. cloth. 
"Regarded as a simple, pleasant story, with an excellent and religious 
purpose, written with no cant and much sincerity, we have no hesitation at 
all in recommending ' The Physician's Daughters.'" — Court Journal. 



JAMES NISBET AND CO. 



THE GOLDEN LADDER. Stories Illustrative of the 

Eight Beatitudes. By the Authors of "The Wide, Wide World," &c. 
With coloured Plates. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

THE MARTYRS OF SPAIN AND THE LIBERA- 

TORS OF HOLLAND. Memoirs of the Sisters Dolores and Costanza 
Cazalla. By the Author of "Tales and Sketches of Christian Life," &c. 
Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
" In conception, detail, and tone, the stories are far superior to the ordinary 

run of such tales. They contain passages of picturesque and forcible writing. " 

— Athenaeum. 

MANXLAND. A Tale. With an Introductory Sketch 

of Manx Home Missions. Woodcuts. By Miss Bellanne Stowell. 
Crown 8vo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
" This is a very good book ; one which may be read with advantage by the 
multitude." — English Churchman. 

MEMORIALS OF JOHN BOWEN, LL.D., late Bishop 

of Sierra Leone. Compiled from his Letters and Jovu-nals by his Sister. 

Post 8vo, 9s. cloth. 
" His life ought to be read far and -vadie."— Christian Observer. 
" A faithful picture of a noble and good man." — Daily News. 

COAST MISSIONS. A Memoir of the Rev. Thomas 

Rosie. By the Rev. James Dodds, Duubai-. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
"We cannot too earnestly recommend this memoir to the study of our 
readers, and especially of young Christians." — Witness. 

CHINA AND ITS PEOPLE. A Book for Young 

Readers. By a Missionary's Wife. 16mo. Woodcuts. 2s. 6d. cloth. 
"We cannot conceive a more intelligent and interesting book for little 
readers, or more likely to benefit as well as amuse them." — Patriot. 
" It is elegantly written, and beautifully illustrated." — Chris. Witness. 

BRIEF MEMORIALS OF THE REV. ALPHONSE 

FRANCOIS LACROIX, Missionary of the London Missionary Society in 

Calcutta. By his Son-in-Law, Rev. Joseph Mullens, Missionary of the 

same Society. Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

"Missionary life in Bengal has never been more truly and graphically 

described than in Dr Mullens' deeply interesting memoir of his reverend 

father-in-law. It is a thoroughly honest book." — Spectator. 

THE OMNIPOTENCE OF LOVING - KINDNESS. 

Being a Nai-rative of the Results of a Lady's Seven Months' Work among 

the Fallen in Glasgow. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
"The title of this book almost claims for it a favourable notice. We are 
glad, however, to ?ay that its pages, more than its title, deserve this at our 
hands." — Scottish Press. 

THE NIGHT LAMP. A Narrative of the Means by 

which Spiritual Darkness was dispelled from the Deathbed of Agnes 
Maxwell Macfarlane. By the Rev. John Macfarlane, LL.D., Author of 
"Why Weepest Thou?" A New and Cheaper Edition, crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. 
cloth. 
" We do not wonder at its popularity. It is a story of thrilling interest, told 
by an affectionate, intelligent, and ardent mind." — Journal oj Sacred Litera- 
ture. 



THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW EX- 

PLAINED. By Joseph Addison Alexander, D.D., Princeton. Post 
8vo, 5s. cloth. 

*' This -volume is the last work on which this accomplished scholar and 
divine was engaged, and which, up to within eight days of his death, was still 
receiving additions from his terse and vigorous pen." — Witness. 

THE HEART AND THE MIND. True Words on 

Training and Teaching. By Mrs Hugh A. Kennedy. Fcap. Svo, 2s. 6d. 

" This is not an ordinary loose performance, but a very solid, well-digested, 
and deeply instructive volume." — Christian Witness. 

ANNALS OF THE RESCUED. By the Author of 

" Haste to the Rescue ; or, Work while it is Day." With a Preface by 
the Rev. C. E. L. Wightman. Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

" This is a deeply-interesting volume. It is a book of similar character to 
'English Hearts and English Hands,' and shows what may be effected by 
well-directed and individual efforts." — Watchman. 

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE : Lectures preached in 

Portman Chapel, London. By Rev. J. W. Reeve, M.A., Minister of the 
Ciiapel. Crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 

" These interesting and scriptural lectures will well reward perusal. They 
are simple and direct. We thank Mr Reeve for his truly excellent dis- 
courses." — Compass. 

SCENES OF LIFE, Historical and Biographical, chiefly 

from Old Testament Times ; or, Chapters for Solitary Hours, and for the 
Sunday at Home. By the Rev. John Baillie, Author of " Memoirs of 
Hewitson." Crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 

" The topics of these meditations are generally well chosen, and the reflec- 
tions founded upon them are such as they would naturally suggest to a pious 
and contemplative mind." 

GRACE ABOUNDING : A Narrative of Facts, illus- 

trating what the Revival has Done, and is Doing. With Thoughts on 
the Christian Ministry, Lay-Action, and Individual Responsibility. By 
the Rev. John B.a.illie, Author of " Memoirs of Hewitson." Crown Svo, 
2s. 6d. cloth. 

"This interesting little book is divided into twenty-two chapters, replete 
with anecdotical and illustrative matter. We commend the volume most 
heartily to aU interested in the great revival movement at present agitating 
the covmtry." — Scottish Press. 

THE PENITENT'S PRAYER. A Practical Exposition 

of the Fifty-first Psalm. By the Rev. Thomas Alexander, M.A., 

Chelsea. Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
"Mr Alexander gives us a literal translation of his own, very accurate, 
with an analysis and explanation, in which some pithy things are drawn from 
old divines. Of the exposition itself we cannot speak too highly. It is 
soundly evangelical and deeply impressive. The style is peculiarly lucid and 
terse; every sentence contains a thought, and every line a sentence." — The 
Patriot. 



JAMES NISBET AND CO. 



THE WANDERINGS OF THE CHILDREN OF 

ISRAEL. By the late Rev. George "Wagner, Author of "Sermons on 
the Book of Job." Crown 8vo, 6s. cloth. 
" The sermons are simple and plain, but very full of instx-uction." — Record. 

THE CHILD OF THE KINGDOM. By the Author 

of "The Way Home." Square 16mo, Is. stiff paper cover ; 23. 6d. cloth. 

"A remarkable little book ; so remarkable, indeed, that in the -whole range 
of our Christian literature for the young we know of nothing to equal it." — 
British Messenger. 

THE BASUTOS ; or, Twenty-three Years in South 

Africa. By the Rev. E. Casalis, late Missionary Director of the Paris 
Evangelical Mission House. Post 8vo, 6s. cloth. 
"The work gives us a capital insight into the life of a powerful African 
tribe. " — Athenoeum. 

MEMORIALS OF THE REV. JOSEPH SORTAIN, 

B.A., of Trinity College, Dublin. By his Widow. Post 8vo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 

" In both taste and feeling the book is a most favourable specimen of reli- 
gions biography." — Christian Remembrancer. 
" This is a charming biography." — Record. 

MEMORIALS OF SERGEANT WILLIAM MAR- 

JOURAM, Royal Artillery. Edited by Sergeant William White. With 
a Preface by the Author of "Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars." 
Crown Svo, 38. 6d. cloth. 
" These memoirs are very interesting. . . . It is edited by Sergeant White, 

the Preface being written by Miss Marsh with her usual piety and good 

feeling." — Christian Observer. 

EVENINGS WITH JOHN BUNYAN ; or, The Dream 

Interpreted. By James Large. Crown Svo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 
"It abounds in most valuable matter, eminently calculated to instruct and 
to edify. It is replete with interesting facts and circumstances, all in point, 
and appropriate citations from the Word of God, as well as from sacred 
■poeixY."— British Standard. 

THE BLACK SHIP ; and other Allegories and Parables. 

By the Author of " Tales and Sketches of Cliristian Life," &c. 16mo, 
2s. 6d. cloth. 
" This is a curious collection of multifarious subjects, all of a character to 
command attention and to repay it. Its airy, romantic character imparts a 
charm which will be deeply felt by young people."— .BriiisA Standard. 

HELEN DUNDAS ; or. The Pastor's Wife. By Zaida. 

With a Preface by the Author of "Haste to the Rescue." Crowm Svo, 
2s. 6d. cloth. 

" This is an exceedingly pi'etty, well-written tale. Its object, much 
better achieved than that of many a more pretentious volume, is to exhibit 
the pastor's wife as a true ' helpmeet ' to her husband. " — Dublin Christian 
Examiner. 



O A SELECTION FROM THE CATALOGUE OF 

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK EXPLAINED. 

By Joseph Addison Alexander, D.D., Princeton. Post 8vo, 7s. 6d. 
"The work is minute and full, but characterised by compression of matter 
and conciseness of statement." — Witness, 

HOME LIGHT; or, The Life and Letters of Maria 

Chowne, Wife of the Rev. William Marsh, D.D., of Beckenham. By her 

Son, the Rev. W. Tilson Marsh, M.A. of Oriel College, and Incumbent of 

St Leonard's-on-Sea. Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 

" Her letters are the best reflections of a cultivated mind and loving heart, 

as well as of the genial piety which diffused its fragrant odour over all her 

works. We heartily recommend it to the notice of our readers." — Record. 

ST AUGUSTINE : A Biographical Memoir. By the Rev. 

John Baillie, Author of "Memoir of Adelaide Newton," &,c. Small 

crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
" Mr Baillie has been, we think, very successful in his selection of incidents, 
in the dress in which he has exhibited them, and in the practical application 
which he has made of them. The book is very pleasing, and very edifying." 
— British and Foreign Evangelical Review. 

LIFE WORK ; or, The Link and the Rivet. By L. N. R., 

Author of "The Book and its Story." Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
"Every minister's wife should have a copy of this book, as the best guide 
she can have in doing good to the poor, and providmg for the improvement of 
the neglected and the outcast." — Wesley an Times. 

HYMNS OF FAITH AND HOPE. By Horatius 

Bonar, D.D. Fcap. Svo, 1st and 2d Series, each 5s. cloth. Also, a 32mo 
Edition of the first Series, Is. 6d. cloth. 
" There is great sweetness both of sentiment and of versification in many 
of these devfitional hymns." — Evavgelical Christendom. 

" A volume of hymns which glow with poetry and piety combined. Many 
of them have found their way to many circles, and are greatly appreciated." 
— London Monthly Review. 

THE LAND OF THE FORUM AND THE VATICAN ; 

or, Thouglits and Sketches dviring an Easter Pilgrimage to Rome. By 

Newman Hall, LL.B. Small crown Svo, 6s. cloth. 
"This book will be read with much interest by all, and will amply repay 
the time and trouble bestowed on it. The controver.-ialist will find in it 
much to startle and amaze his practised eye, and will, moreover, receive 
hints not entirely useless in his special pursuits. We rise from its perusal 
with pleasure and profit." — Witness. 

THE VOICE OF CHRISTIAN LIFE IN MANY 

LANDS AND AGES: Sketches of Hymns and Hymn- Writers. By the 

Author of "Sketches of Christian Life," &c. Small crown Svo, 5s. cloth 

antique. 

" Hymiiology is not an easy subject on which to write a popular book, yet 

the author lias made the attempt, and succeeded. Its plan is partly literary, 

partly historical, and partly biographical. ... We can heartily recommend 

this unpretending book to those who have an interest in its subject." — 

Guardian. 



JAMES NISBET AND CO. 



HYMNS OF THE CHURCH MILITANT. Compiled 

by the Authors of "The Wide, Wide World," &c. 18mo, 6s. cloth antique. 

" It contains about five hundred sacred songs, admirably chosen from the 
writers of almost every age and country. As a gift book to a Christian friend 
we can hardly imagiue anything more appropriate than this." — Baptist 
Magazine. 

OUR HOMELESS POOR, AND WHAT WE CAN 

DO TO HELP THEM. By the Author of "Helen Lindsay." Crown 
8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

" Wboever wants to know how the wanderers about London are now ac- 
commodated with food and lodging for the night, ought at once to procure 
this remarkably interesting and original book. " — Banner of Ulster. 

THE MISSING LINK ; or, Bible-Women in the Homes 

of the London Puor. By L. N. R., Author of " The Book and its Story." 
Small crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. Also, a Cheap Edition, Is. 6d. cloth limp. 

"This bf^ok treats of the heathen of St Giles's instead of the heathen of 
Madagascar and Makalolo, or it would receive a wider circulation, and create 
a more vivid interest, than the travels even of an Ellis and a Livingstone." — 
Daily News. 

HASTE TO THE RESCUE ; or. Work while it is Day. 

By Mrs Charles Wiohtman. With a Preface by the Author of "English 
Hearts and English Hands." Small crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. Also, a 
Cheap Edition, Is. 6d. cloth limp. 

"The matter of Mrs Wightman's publication is most interesting, and we 
wish every clergyman's wife would carefully peruse it." — Church of England 
Magazine. 

ENGLISH HEARTS AND ENGLISH HANDS ; or, 

The Railway and the Trenches. By the Author of " Memorials of Cap- 
tain Hedley Vicars." Small Svo, 53. cloth. Also, a Cheap Edition. 2s. 
cloth limp. 

"We recognise an honesty of purpose, a purity of heart, and a warmth of 

humau affection, combined with a religious faith, that are very beautiful " 

Times. 

THE TITLES OF JEHOVAH : A Series of Lectures 

Preached in Portman Chapel, Baker Street, during Lent 1858; to which 
are added. Six Lectures on the Christian Race, Preached during Lent 
1857. By the Rev. J. W. Reeve, M.A. Small crown avo, 5s. cloth. 

"We have seldom met with sermons that approach more nearly to our 
ideal of apostolic preaching tlian these. There is no question as to the au- 
thor's foundation or superstructure." — Record. 

THE THREE WAKINGS, with Hymns and Songs. By 

the Author of "The Voice of Christian Life in Song," "Tales and Sketches 
of Christian Life," &c. &c. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

** All of these poems mark an author of considerable ability, while many of 
them are full of great beauty and feeling. Indeed, taken as a whole, the 
volume will bear comparison with the works of those who have acquired 
high reputation in the world of poetic literaiure."— /S< James's ChrouicU 



10 A SELECTION FKOM THE CATALOGUE OF 



SERMONS ON THE BOOK OF JOB. By the late 

Rev. George Wagnek, Incumbent of St Stephen's Church, Brighton. 

Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
" There is no attempt at subtle logic, or rhetorical eloquence, or learned 
criticism ; but there is what is better than either — a plain and forcible exhi- 
bition of scriptural truth brought home to human hearts." — Evangelical Chris- 
tendom. 

THE BOOK OF PSALMS ; With an Exposition, Evan- 

gelical, Typical, and Prophetical, of the Christian Dispensation. By W. 
Wilson, D.D., Vicar of Holy Rood, Southampton, and Canon of Win- 
chester. Two vols. 8to, 16s. cloth. 
" These volumes contain a vast fund of experimental and instructive truth, 
and will well repay a diligent perusal." — Church of England Magazine. 

EVENTIDE : A Devotional Diary for the Close of Day. 

By Maky Ann Kelty, Author of "Visiting my Relations," "The Real 

and the Beau Ideal," &c. Crown 8vo, 5s. cloth. 
" There are in this volume three hundred and sixty-five readings on texts 
of Scripture, each occupying a page. The remarks are sensible as weU as 
pious," — Clerical Journal. 

QUARLES' EMBLEMS. With entirely New lUustra- 

tions, drawn by Charles Bennett, and Allegorical Borders, &c., by W. 

Haeey Rogers. Crown 4to, handsomely bound, 15s. ; morocco, 31s. 6d. 

"Each artist has done his task well — the borders, which are Mr Rogers' 

share, are in almost aU cases exquisitely fine and fanciful, and admirably 

drawn." — Athenceum. 

EXPOSITIONS OF THE CARTOONS OF RAPHAEL. 

By Richard Henry Smith, Jun. Illustrated by Photographs, printed by- 
Messrs Negretti & Zambra. 8vo, 8s. 6d. cloth elegant. 
"The handsome book now before us, containing a photograph of each of 
the cartoons, with Mr Smith's very thoughtful and tasteful comments upon 
them, will serve to perpetuate and to improve the salutary as well as gratify- 
ing impressions which a view of those grand paintings must create." — Daily 
News. 

THE ETERNAL PURPOSE OF GOD IN CHRIST 

JESUS OUR LORD. Being the Fourth Series of Lectures Preached at 
the Request of the Edinburgh Association for Promoting the Study of 
Prophecy. By the Rev. James Kelly, M.A., Author of "The Apocalypse 
Interpreted in the Light of the Day of the Lord," &c. New Edition. 
Crown 8vo, 4s. cloth. 
"It is one of the freshest, richest, and most thoughtful volumes on pro- 
phecy which we have ever read." — Journal of Projphecy . 

CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH IN THE BOOK OF 

PSALMS. By the Rev. Andrew A. Bonak, Author of "Memoirs of 
M'Cheyne," " Commentary on Leviticus," &c. Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. cloth. 
" There is a soundness in the work, because the writer admits a historical 
and literal meaning, as adapted for general usefulness, while he responds to 
the voice of the churches in all ages by admitting that the Holy Spirit in- 
tended to teach aU ages by the Psalms. The work is a discreet, pious, and 
learned production, far above many similar attempts to illustrate these de- 
vout compositions." — Clerical Journal. 



JAMES NISBET AND CO. 11 



A MEMOIR OF THE LATE ROBERT NESBIT, 

Missionary of the Free Church of Scotland, Bombay. By the Rev. J. 

Murray Mitchell. Crown 8vo, 6s. cloth. 
"The memoir of such a man as Robert Nesbit must be valuable to the 
Church, and we are glad that the task of publishing his remains was under- 
taken by a kindred spii-it." — Record. 

MEMOIR AND LETTERS OF THE LATE THOMAS 

SEDDON, Artist. Edited by his Brother. Crown Svo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 

*' A deeply interesting but melancholy memorial of a noble-hearted young 
painter, who had singularly distinguished himself. . . . His letters, espe- 
cially those to his wife, are very charming, full of freshness, and of a hope 
not destined to be realised."— Xiierary Gazette. 

THE STRUGGLES OF A YOUNG ARTIST : Being 

a Memoir of David C. Gibson. By a Brother Artist. Small crown Svo, 
3s. 6d. cloth. 
" The artist's biographer has done justice to his memory, as, with a pain- 
ter's sympathy with his pursuits, he has combined a Christian brother's 
interest in his spiritual welfare and growth in grace. The book is most ac- 
ceptable and \xsetnV— Scottish Guardian. 

A PRACTICAL AND EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY 

ON THE EPISTLE TO TITUS. By the Rev. William Graham, D.D., 

LL.D., Author of "The Spirit of Love," "The Jordan and the Rhino," 

&c. Crown Svo, 2s. 6d, cloth. 

"The Commentary is more readable than works of the same nature. It is 

a good but little volume. It is one of those works, neither very large nor 

very small, that readers interested in this class of literature will probably 

secure." — TaiVs Edinburgh Magazine. 

SERMONS ON THE PARABLES OF SCRIPTURE, 

Addressed to a Village Congregation. By the Rev. Arthur Roberts, 
M.A., Rector of Woodrising, Author of "Village Sermons," &c. Crown 
Svo, 5s. cloth. 
"An excellent volume of sound, practical instruction, well adapted for 
family reading." — British and Foreign Evangelical Review. 

THE BROAD ROAD AND NARROW WAY : A Brief 

Memoir of Eliza Ann Harris. By the Author of "The Female Jesuit." 

Fcap Svo, 2s. cloth. 
"We would recommend every mother to place a copy in the hands of her 
daughter, as bearing the strongest testimony to the reality of religion, and 
afiFording a lovely example of its subduing, elevating, and sanctifying power 
over heart and life. " — Evangelical Magazine. 

PATIENCE IN TRIBULATION : A Memorial Sketch 

of Jessie . With a Recommendatory Note by the Rev. Francis 

Gillies, A.M., Minister of Free St Stephen's Church, Edinburgh. Crown 
Svo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
"This is a mother's memorial of the religious experience of a much afflicted 
daughter, called to her rest when a little over twenty years of age. An in- 
troductory note by the Rev. Francis Gillies, of Edinburgh, the pastor of the 
family, corroborates the impression of high-toned piety which we derive from 
this parental naiTative." — Record. 



12 A SELECTION FROM THE CATALOGUE OF 



SEED FOE SPRING TIME. Letters to My Little 

Ones concerning their Father in Heaven. By the Rev. W. Landels, 
Author of " Woman's Sphere and Work." 16mo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
" This handsome little book is designed to present the elements of theology 

in a shape that will make them intelligible and interesting to children." — 

English Presbyterian Messenger. 

SUNSETS ON THE HEBREW MOUNTAINS. By 

the Rev. J. R. Macduff, D.D. Eighth Thousand. Post 8vo, 6s. 6d. cloth. 
"Mr MacdufiF has rightly appreciated the characters he has described, and 
has truthfully delineated their features." — Church of England Magazine. 

THE TESTIMONY OF CHRIST TO CHRISTIANITY. 

By Peter Bayne, M.A., Author of " Christian Life." Post 8vo, 3s. 6d. 
cloth. 

" An original and valuable work." — British Standard. 

"We commend it to intelligent Christians. We trust it will obtain a very 
wide circulation." — Aberdeen Free Press. 

HERBERT PERCY ; or, From Christmas to Easter. By 

L. a. Moncrieff. 16mo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
" This little book is excellent in style, in tone, and in moral. The story is 
well sustained, the conversations natural without being wearisome, the events 
striking enough to awaken interest without being improbable."— .EdindMrfirA 
Evening Courant. 

THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE ; or, Lazarus 

Revived. By the Rev. James Culross, M.A. Crown 8vo, Is. 6d. cloth. 
" This is an able exposition of our Lord's most interesting miracles. Mr 
Culross clothes his thoughts with much force and beauty of language." — 
Patriot. 

THE LIFE OF ARTHUR VANDELEUR, Major, 

Royal Artillery. By the Author of "Memorials of Captain Hedley 

Vicars," " English Hearts and English Hands." Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth 

" It would be difficult to imagine a more beautiful and touching story . , . 

told as it is with the quiet pathos which marked the narrative of the life of 

Captain Hedley Vicars." — Morning Post. 

CIVILISING MOUNTAIN MEN; or. Sketches of 

Mission Work among the Karens. By Mrs Mason, of Burmah. Crown 

8vo, 5s. cloth. 
" Lively, fresh, and interesting, Mrs Mason's book will be found specially 
suitable for the young. As a record of zeal and of self-denj'ing labours 
crowned with signal sviccess, and of the rich fruit of women's work among 
women, grown-up people will read it with much pleasure and much profit." 
— Daili/ Review. 

EARLY DEATH NOT PREMATURE. Being a Memoir 

of Francis L. Mackenzie, late of Trinity College, Cambridge. With 

Notices of Henry Mackenzie, B. A. By the Rev. Charles Popham Miles, 

M.A., M.D., F.L.S., Glasgow. Fourth Edition, crown 8vo, 6s. cloth. 

"Young Mackenzie's life of two years furnishes prolonged illustration of 

the value of a godly ' upbring.' With him the rule of Scripture, and the habit 

of prayer, weie associated with his earliest pastimes, his boyish sports, his 

school-life and work, and his studies at college." — Quarterly Messenger of 

the Young Men's Christian Association. 



JAMES NISBET AND CO. 13 



MENDIP ANNALS ; or, A Journal of the Charitable 

Labours of Hannah and Martha More. Edited by Arthur Roberts, 
M.A., Rector of Woodfising, Norfolk. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. cloth. 
"We close t)ie pages of this diarywith an increased respect for the memory 
of Miss Hannah More and her sister."— Critic. 

WORKMEN AND THEIR DIFFICULTIES. By the 

Author of "Ragged Homes and How to Mend Them." Crown 8vo, 

3s. 6d. cloth. Also, a cheap Edition, Is. cloth limp. 
"This is a book that we could wish to find exclusively circulated among 
the working classes. , . . The authoress has evidently studied her subject 
carefully, and she embodies in her book much valuable and pregnant infor- 
mation." — Scottish Guardian. 

THE GRAPES OF ESHCOL ; or, Gleanings from the 

Land of Promise. By the Rev. J. R. Macduff, D.D. Crown 8vo, 3s. 6d. 
cloth. 
"Mr Macduff has certainly produced a book of both pleasing and profitable 
reading. " — Witness. 

"The subject nf the volume is the rest and joy of heaven. There is 
nothing to exercise thought, but much to awaken feeling." — Evangelical 
Magazine. 

THE ROMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. By P. 

H. GossE, F.R.S With Illustrations by Wolf. Post Svo, 1st and 2d 

ISeries, each 7s. 6d. cloth. 
" This is a charming book. . . , Every lover of nature, every lover of 
the marvellous, every lover of the beautiful, every soul that can feel the 
charm of true poetry, must be deeply grateful to Mr Gusse for an intellectual 
treat of the highest order." — Daily News. 

TRUE MANHOOD : Its Nature, Foundation, and De- 
velopment. A Book for Young Men. By the Rev. W. Landels. Crown 
Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
" This is a book true to its title. It contains on every page sentiments of 

the highest value for the proper formation of manhood, in the Gospel sense 

of the term. It is a book which every young man Should attentively read, 

and every family possess."— Aort/iern Warder. 

THE UNSEEN. By William Landels, Minister of 

Regent's Park Chapel. Small crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
" We have been much interested in this sei-ies of Discourses upon the Un- 
seen, as an able and vigorous, a full and impressive, setting forth of the 
leading features of a department of Divine truth too much overlooked." — 
British and Foreign Evangelical Review. 

THE SONG OF SONGS : A Practical Exposition of 

the Son..' of Solomon. With a Translation after the Order and Idiom of 

the Hebrew, and other additions. By the Rev. A. Moody Stuart, 

Minister of Free St Luke's, Edinburgh. Demy Svo, l-2s. cloth. 

"In the very difticult part of exposition which Mr Stuart has cho.sen, he 

has proved eminently succi ssful. ... He has produced a work of the 

highest Value— a work undoubtedly and by far the best for general use which 

we possess on this part of the inspired volume." — Witness. 



14 SELECTION FEOM CATALOGUE, ETC. 

ABBEOKUTA ; or, Sunrise within the Tropics. An Out- 
line of the Origin and Progress of the Yoruba Mission. By Miss TacKER. 
Foolscap 8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

THE SOUTHERN CROSS AND THE SOUTHERN 

CROWN ; or, The Gospel in New Zealand. By Miss Tucker. Foolscap 
8vo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

THE RAINBOW IN THE NORTH. A Short Ac- 

count of the first Establishment of Christianity in Rupert's Land by the 
Church Missionary Society. By Miss Tucker. With Illustrations. Fool- 
scap, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

A MEMOIR OF THE LIFE AND LABOURS OF 

THE REV. A. JUDSON, D.D. By Francis Wayland, D.D. Two Vols. 
8vo, 12s. cloth. 

THE PUBLIC SPEAKER, AND HOW TO MAKE 

ONE. By a Cambridge Man. Crown Svo, 2s. 6d. cloth. 
"There are a great many very sensible hints in this little book, which 
young men may study with advantage." — Church of England Magazine. 

THROUGH THE TYROL TO VENICE. By Mrs 

Newman Hall,. Crown Svo, 7s. 6d. cloth. 
'* These short historical sketches convey a great deal of interesting informa- 
tion ; and we have no doubt, from its engaging style, that the work will be 
appreciated by young people, for whom it chiedy appears to be written." — 
Christian Observer. 

THE VISITOR'S BOOK OF TEXTS ; or, the Word 

brought uigh to the Sick and Sorrowful. By the Rev. Andrew A. Bonar, 
Glasgow. Fcap. Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 
" Mr Bonar, like the Master, has the tongue of the learned to speak a word 
in season to him that is weary. This book wiU be found singularly valuable 
in the sick chamber." — London Monthly Record. 

THE HIGHER CHRISTIAN LIFE. By Rev. W. E. 

BoARDMAN. Edited, with a Preface, including Notices of the Revivals, 
by the A\;thor of " Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars," and "English 
Hearts and English Hands." Crown Svo, 3s. 6d. cloth. 

" There is a freshness and force in the work which pleases us much 

The Preface extends to more than forty pages, and contains a rapid sketch, 
interspersed with facts, of the gracious revival which is now spreading so 
auspiciously through the churches." — Evangelical Christendom. 

THE SONG OF CHRIST'S FLOCK IN THE 

TWENTY-THIRD PSALM. By J. Stoughton, Author of ' ' Lights of the 
World," " Spiritual Heroes," &c. Crown Svo, 5s. cloth. 

" Mr Stoughton's volume may be earnestly and warmly recommended. . . . 
Its chaste piety will make it deservedly acceptable to a large class of readers. 
. . . We know of no recent volume of religious meditation which is likely to 
be more profitably read or pleasantly remembered."— Daiiy News. 



LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET, W. 



